


A Great Balancing Act

by sebastian2017



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Erik's a soccer mom, Family Fluff, I want to say its fluff without plot but thats not quite true, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutant Politics, and Charles is like a pinterest mom, because there is indeed a plot and that plot will lead us to, but then we'll go back to fluff so it kay, it's going to be fluff up to your ears, preschool teacher!Charles, single father Erik, single father charles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2018-12-01 07:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11481360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: As the school year starts, Erik is surprised to discover that his twins' kindergarten teacher is the same Charles Xavier he argued with through his entire university career.It's a perfect timing for a reunion. Now instead of arguing about politics, they can argue about the proper way to raise young mutants in the modern world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from a Dr. Seuss quote
> 
> cw: none in this chapter as far as I can see, lmk if I need to add any!

 

“Mr. Lehnsherr? Good morning, it’s Moira, the principal from school. Pietro’s teacher, Mr. Charles, has requested a meeting with you. I’m sure you remember the drill from last year?”

 

It’s only the first week back to school, but just as Moira said, Erik has plenty of experience from the many calls he’d received when the twins were in Pre-K. Though his expectations hadn’t been high, Erik had foolishly held out hope that the twins would allow a few weeks of peace at their school before falling into their usual routine of chaos. It seemed not. Only the mundane routine of receiving such a call keeps Erik from replying with a groan. Instead, as he’s done countless times the previous school year, Erik apologizes in advance and promises to fit time for a meeting when he picks the twins up in the afternoon.

 

Erik lets out a long sigh only after he’s hung up the phone. He leans back in his chair and looks towards Lorna, playing quietly on a mat in the corner of Erik’s home office. “What am I going to do about those siblings of yours?”

 

“Pietro! An’ Wanda!” Lorna grinned at her father, proud with herself for being able to connect the word siblings with Wanda and Pietro.

 

“Yes, ketsele. Wanda and Pietro.” Erik smiles at her and turns back to the work on his desk. When he continues, it’s more a mumble to himself than anything. “Let’s see what they’ve gotten themselves into now.”

 

Erik tries to work the rest of the afternoon as he normally would, since there’s no use in speculating what the twins have done now. It’s very likely they were only being their usual selves and their new teacher had merely been unprepared and spooked. Or perhaps Wanda and Pietro had finally gone through on their threats to attempt mutiny in the classroom with their powers. Whatever the reason, Erik knows it’ll do him no good to dwell on it for long. By the time he straps Lorna into her car seat to go pick the twins up, he’s almost forgotten all about it. At least, he’s stopped worrying about it.

 

Erik carried Lorna into the school with him, after fifteen grueling minutes of finding a parking spot among the soccer moms and PTA committee. Erik has faced down cops with less viciousness. With his parking spot secure and Lorna firmly in his arms, Erik goes to find the classroom for his meeting. It’s at the edge of the school and close enough to the playground that Erik pops out for a moment to find the twins. There’s a flurry of children all over the playground equipment, being watched by the unfortunate, overworked and underpaid teacher who was assigned after school playground duty. Erik spots Wanda immediately, occupied by the swing set. As for Pietro, Erik barely has enough time to register the silver haired blur speeding towards him. Pietro’s still growing accustomed to his powers, so his attempt at a full stop in front of Erik is far from successful. Erik winds up stumbling a few steps back. Pietro is hardly fazed, though, and he wraps his arms around Erik’s middle.

 

“Papa!” Pietro grins up at him. “We’re not in trouble today. I swear! Mr. Charles even said so, that we’re not in trouble.”

 

“Is that so? I’ll find out for myself in a few minutes, I suppose.” Erik is still holding Lorna, so he hugs Pietro with one arm. When Wanda skips over from the swings, Erik hugs her too.

 

Wanda’s just as excited as Pietro to see him and she makes sure to also tickle the back of her sister’s knee in greeting. “Hello, Papa! Hello, Lorna! Be quick in your meeting, okay? Charles taught us how to make slime and Pietro and I really wanna try it out at home.”

 

Erik laughs under his breath. He’s used to the casual bossiness from his daughter. It’s very much a reflection of himself in her after all. After assuring them both that he would be as quick as possible, Erik sends them back to playing and goes back with Lorna to face this Mr. Charles down for what would likely be the first of many meetings. Erik knows his children are difficult to deal with, but he’s also ready to defend them to his very last breath. It’s not only the overprotective father in Erik, but the still fiercely burning spirit of mutant activism in him. It hasn’t been lost on him that most complaints about his children stem from their mutations. Therefore, when Erik steps into the classroom, he’s ready to deliver a whole sermon on mutant rights and equal opportunities in schooling. Instead, he finds himself blinking dumbly at the man currently wiping down the white board.

 

When Charles turns to face him, Erik does nothing but blurt out, “We used to argue very often.”

 

Charles frowns, but remains as polite as ever. “Pardon?”

 

“I’m sorry, that was… probably not the best wording I could have found.” Erik tries not to act too flustered. Here he is, standing in a too bright, too colorful classroom with a toddler at his hip. It’s likely the last place he’d expect to run into an old rival. “Erik Lehnsherr. We went to Columbia together; our arguments over separatism and integrationism were a somewhat weekly affair.”

 

The more Erik looks at him, the more he remembers from their university days. Erik had graduated more than a decade ago, but Charles looks just the same. His hair is just a bit neater, and the soft looking cardigan over his shirt is more fitting on a preschool teacher than a university student, but Charles’ face still held that boyish charm to it. Even with the oddity of the situation, Erik has to marvel at the coincidence. Who would guess that the man he fought with over the best approach to mutant activism would one day be his children’s kindergarten teacher? A small world indeed.

 

Erik can see the moment when Charles’ eyes light up in recognition. “Erik! I had wondered if Pietro and Wanda were of the same Lehnsherr family as you. You’ve grown a lot since university, old friend. I hardly recognized you!”

 

Charles claps Erik on the back, a friendly gesture after all these years. Erik is happy to accept it, because while all their past interactions have been arguments or debates, the both of them had always held a great level of respect for each other. However, right now, Erik is here as a father, not an intellectual opponent. They should probably get to the matter at hand before losing themselves to reminiscing. Erik sets Lorna down on the floor and though the girl is still a bit unsteady on her legs, she makes her way over to a play area in the corner of the room. Erik stands where he can see both Lorna and Charles.

 

“Is she yours as wells?” Charles asks, smiling as he watches Lorna sit down near a stack of LEGO. She’ll probably make a mess of all the tidying Charles seemed to have done across his classroom, but Charles doesn’t seem to mind.

 

Erik nods. He smiles proudly as he watches Lorna build towers and collapse them again. “Yes, she is. I have three. The twins and her.”

 

“That’s wonderful, Erik. I have a young boy. It’s so nice to see a new generation of mutants growing, isn’t it? Beyond politics, just as a father,” Charles remarks. Erik may not be the telepath between them, but just from Charles’ eyes, he can see how genuine he is when he says this. 

 

“Though, it seems your children have a penchant for mutated hair as well. Why, I thought Pietro’s silver was the most spectacular thing I’d ever seen, but now I see that lovely Lorna’s marvelous green locks are a fierce competitor!”

 

“Yes, their mother was quite shocked when Pietro was first born. We weren’t sure if he was white haired or simply very, very blond.” Even though it’s very long since they’d last seen each other, Erik is perfectly comfortable to share that little tidbit. Charles had always had something about him that just made others comfortable in his presence. With the lull of conversation, Erik steered it back towards his original purpose for being here today: the twins. “Now,” Erik starts, preparing himself for a slap on the wrist for his twins’ behavior, “what was it you wanted to discuss?”

 

Like a well practiced magic act, Erik could see as Charles slid off the mantle of old acquaintance and went back to being a teacher. “Of course! Well, they’re not in trouble. I truly hope Moira didn’t make it sound like trouble over the phone. I only wanted to discuss Pietro and see what possible accommodations we could come to. I want to be sure I’m providing the best possible environment for him to learn.”

 

“Accommodations?” Erik repeats. He’s had many responses to his son’s ADHD, only made worse by his mutation, but none of those reactions has ever been to seek out accommodations that would help him.

 

Charles nods kindly. “Yes, of course. Every child learns differently and it’s my job as their teacher to find what works best for each of them. I was hoping you would help me in that when it comes to Pietro. Though if not, I jotted some ideas down on my desk and I would love to discuss them all with someone who knows him as well as you.”

 

“Yes, yes, of course. Let’s go see those ideas,” Erik agrees. It’s entirely foreign to him to find someone attempting to work around him, but Erik wasn’t going to let the opportunity go to waste. He follows Charles to the desk and between the two of them, they spend the next half hour discussing alternatives for Pietro. Erik isn’t sure if any of these will lead to a miraculous change of behavior from his son, but the change in attitude from the teacher alone is enough to leave Erik optimistic for the school year.

 

As their meeting comes to a close, Charles closes the notebook and Erik finds himself looking at Charles the acquaintance instead of Charles the teacher again. “Don’t be a stranger, Erik. Perhaps we could get together and debate politics again someday. For old times’ sake.”

 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Erik promises.

 

\------ 

 

Erik’s kitchen is a mess. There’s Elmer’s glue, borax, food coloring, and glitter in every nook and cranny. In the living room, the twins are having a grand time with the slimy product of their little science experiment, but Erik is still in the kitchen, looking at all the mess and wondering how he’ll ever get everything cleaned up in time to make dinner. The kids had come home from school with a worksheet of ‘Fun Science Ideas’ in their folder, of course handed out by Mr. Charles. While scraping dried glue off his countertop, Erik wonders if this might be some strange, extended sort of revenge on Charles’ part. It would make sense. There’s no other reason but revenge for Erik to be subjected to this much deep cleaning on a random Tuesday night. Five minutes in, Erik gives up. The clean up for this can be his problem  _ tomorrow _ . Today, he’s going to be the irresponsible sort of parent who orders pizza on a weekday because he can’t be bothered. 

 

Once the kitchen is abandoned, Erik goes to join the children in the living room. Tarzan is playing on the television, though none of the kids is watching. The twins are having way too fun a time spreading slime out on the couch, while Lorna is sitting on her play blanket with some plastic building blocks. Barring the slime related destruction of his furniture, Erik can’t complain. It’s calm for an evening at home with three Lehnsherr children. That’s just what Erik will remind himself while he’s busy cleaning slime off every surface in the house. Thankfully, Lorna has shown no interest in it, or Erik knows he’d be cleaning the damn thing off from the strange sort of places only babies would think of exploring. 

 

“Papa! You play too!” Pietro runs up to him with the slime extended towards him. Erik notes how his hair is now tinged with globs of the green slime. He’s almost afraid to ask how it got there in the first place. He doesn’t have to wonder for long. After politely rejecting the slime, he looks up and is horrified to see Wanda putting slime on her sister’s hair. 

 

When she sees her father’s horrified look, Wanda just giggles. “It matches her hair, Papa!” she shouts in glee. 

 

Yes. The slime is most definitely Charles’ long due revenge for all their arguments. 


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles and Erik make plans for their coffee 'date'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: none, lmk if I need to add anything :)

The next morning, Erik’s motivating through their early morning routine is boosted as he thinks of Charles. During their university days, they had rarely agreed, and they certainly hadn’t been friends. However, Erik had been president of a separatist centered mutants’ club, while Charles had led an integrationist faction of students. Their political involvement had led to an innumerable amount of public debates between them, and through all their disagreements, Erik had developed a great deal of respect for Charles. The list of people from university Erik wishes he’d remained in contact with is small, but Charles Xavier remains at the very top of it. Erik hopes Charles was serious about catching up over coffee, because Erik certainly was.

Just past 7:30, Erik has the kids loaded up into the backseat of their car. Erik pretends not to see Pietro coloring in a worksheet he was supposed to do for homework, just like he pretends not to notice Lorna spilling half a sippy cup worth of juice onto herself and her carseat. Ignorance, even when faked, is bliss. As he pulls up into the twins’ preschool, Erik decides today will be one of those days where he walks them to their classroom. Nothing at all to do with the teacher waiting inside, of course, just a completely random decision. He pulls up into the parking lot and takes the parking closest to the building.

“Papa is going to walk you to your classroom today!” Erik announces to them. Of course, this is received with cheers from the twins. Lorna joins in too, though she’s not exactly sure what she’s celebrating. Erik goes around to unbuckle all their carseats and help them get their little backpacks out of the car. Shortly after, Erik is holding Lorna in his arms as he walks the twins inside the building and down the hallway to their teacher. The twins are actually enjoying class with Mr. Charles so they even hurry along a few steps in front of their father.

When they see the door to the classroom open, Pietro doesn’t even bother waiting. He runs forward in a burst of super speed that’s happening more and more these days. He skids to a stop in front of where Charles is writing the date on the whiteboard. Pietro grins. “Mr. Charles! Hello! Look, my Papa is dropping me off today!”

“I can see that! How exciting!” Charles crouches down to their level while he talks at them. He looks up at Erik over Pietro’s shoulder and smiles. “Lovely to see you again, Erik. How are you today?”

“Still cleaning up the slime from the twins’ little science experiment last night,” he quips.

Charles laughs. “It is quite messy, isn’t it? But the students all love it and it can keep them entertained for a while! Wanda told me it’s her favorite experiment she’s ever done, didn’t she?”

“Yes, it was! I want to be a slime scientist when I grow up,” Wanda confirms, giggling.

“So long as it’s your home you’re dirtying and not mine, I think I could be okay with that,” Erik agrees, nodding. He was glad to see the children taking such an interest in their learning, if only it didn’t have to be at the expense of his furniture.

“Oh no, Erik, none of that. Scientists don’t work from their homes! They have big and shiny labs, just like Wanda will have a big, shiny lab,” Charles said, grinning as he gave Wanda an encouraging high five. Lorna, who’d previously been doing her best to hide behind her father’s leg, chooses now to peek her head out. So Charles acknowledges her as well, with a small wave. “Hello, there! I remember you from yesterday, you’re Lorna, yes?”

Lorna nods shyly and darts back behind her father’s leg. If she’s not at home with her family or distracted by toys, she’s a shy little girl. And since the school day hasn’t even begun yet, the toys in Charles’ classroom are all stored away, leaving Lorna shying away. Erik has always found it adorable and he smiles as she hugs his leg.

“Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Erik?” Charles asks, standing up once more and smoothing out his trousers. The twins have now gone to entertain themselves by putting away their school bags and setting up their pencils at their table.

It feels the slightest bit embarrassing to say out loud now, but Erik continues anyway. “I was just wondering if you were serious about catching up over coffee. It’s been a while since university and obviously, a lot has happened. I’d be interested in a chat like back in the day.” It sounds stupidly like Erik is trying to ask him out on a date, but it’s too late to take any of it back now.

Thankfully, Charles only lights up with a grin. “I would love that, old friend! I always thought one of us would end up some big time politician or lobbyist, fighting the cause for mutant rights in the spotlight. And look at us! I’d love to have a chat with you, maybe get into another one of our debates? I remember how heated those used to get! Here, give me your phone number. We can arrange something after school,” Charles offers.

He pulls his phone out and opens it to input a new contact, then offers the phone to Erik to fill in. Erik dutifully takes the cellphone from Charles and types the information in quickly, before shooting himself a quick text so he’ll have Charles’ information as well. It’s probably the easiest phone number he’s ever gotten, though Erik doesn’t want it for that purpose. Erik may have done some questionable things in his lifetime, but he’s not about to add ‘relationship with my children’s kindergarten teacher and my ex-nemesis from college’ to the list, no matter how badly he’d crushed on Charles when they were undergraduates. That time feels like a lifetime ago either way.

“Perfect. I’ll send you a message after the school day, so we can arrange a meeting. Thank you for passing by, Erik! It really is such a lovely surprise to have your children in my class.” Charles is all smiles as he says this.

Erik is strangely glad to note that the world hasn't beaten the cheer and optimism out of Charles since they last saw each other. He'd always thought Charles was foolish for thinking so positively about the world. At their time of graduation, Erik would have been willing to bet that Charles was going to to spend the smallest bit of time out in the real world and immediately have all of his optimism crushed. Erik, at least, can’t comprehend how one could remain so staunchly integrationist after facing the harsh realities of the world. But Charles seems to be managing it just fine. Perhaps this can be among their catching up when they go out for that coffee. More children are starting to file in for the day, so Erik picks Lorna up off the floor and bids both the twins and Charles goodbye before he departs once more.

 

                         -------

  
Predictably, Charles and Erik aren’t able to meet up immediately. They both have their jobs and four children between the two of them. Arranging for their schedules to line up is a nightmare. For the next week, they share brief greetings while Erik either drops off or picks up the kids, but no more than that. Lorna is teething and the twins have been their usual restless selves. Their usual after school classes don’t start until late September either, so when they’re restless, it’s entirely in Erik’s hands. The last thing on his mind is arranging a coffee date with Charles. However, it seems Charles has a little more time to think about it, because at the end of the following week, Erik receives a text from him.

{sms from Charles Xavier} Hello, old friend! I was doing some research on some child-friendly coffee shops (I presumed it would be easier for the both of us to bring out little ones along) and I found an excellent one that has not just a play place, but also is mutant-run. I figured you would enjoy that idea. I can be free Sunday afternoon, if that works for you.

{sms to Charles Xavier} You’re as wordy over text as in person, I’m shocked. Sunday evening works fine for me. Send me a pin.

{sms from Charles Xavier} You wound my feelings. I’ll see you and your tots there on Sunday, then. Can’t wait! (attached: pin location)

  
On Sunday afternoon, Erik makes sure they're all ready to head out to the cafe. He's finished all the housework in the morning, so he's free all afternoon to wrestle the children into clean, decent clothing. This task is harder than it should be, but five years of being a father means at least he’s used to it and knows to anticipate it. Therefore, knowing they have to be at the cafe by three, Erik starts getting them ready at noon. The car ride there is full of questions about why they’re going out with Mr. Charles on a Sunday, which Erik answers with stories of his university days that keep them occupied.

When they arrive at the cafe, Erik spots Charles waiting outside. At his side, there’s a young boy. He looks a startling amount like his father, save for his blond hair. Erik is impressed to see that Charles has even managed to get his son dressed in a proper little sweater to go with the khaki shorts he’s wearing. He’s dressed like a small version of some preppy undergrad, but instead of finding it annoying, Erik finds it rather endearing. Mostly, he’s impressed that Charles has managed to convince his son to dress nicely, while Erik had struggled to get Pietro into a t-shirt with jeans and Wanda into something that couldn’t double as a Halloween costume. Maybe Charles had used telepathy to convince him. Erik wouldn't blame him. He wishes he could do the same with his own children. Whatever the reason, Erik goes up to the two of them to greet them.

Charles spots them as they're walking up. He grins and waves them over. “Hello, Erik! And hello, you two!” He crouches down to greet the twins, who are standing at either side of Erik. They both give him hugs and when they pull back, Charles stands again and reaches back for his son. He keeps a hand on the boy’s shoulder as he introduces him. “This is my son David. He’s in the primary school near the preschool. David here just started second grade. He’s seven, not that much older than you two! You can go play together, if you’d like.” This he tells to the twins, then he smiles down at David and ruffles up his hair. “David, these are two of my students, Pietro and Wanda. And this is their father, Erik, the old classmate I told you I was meeting up with today. And this charming little babe,” he leans forward to tickle Lorna’s tummy as he says this, “is the twins’ little sister Lorna.”

David is perfectly polite, reaching over to shake Erik’s hand and then waving at both twins. “Hello, it’s good to meet you all. Daddy said we’d be here for a little while. There’s a really cool slide inside… It goes all twisty and stuff. You want to go play with me?”

“Sure!” Wanda nods eagerly. She’s always happy to make new friends, especially mutant friends. And since she knows Mr. Charles is a mutant like them, she can only assume his son is as well.

Pietro is a little more hesitant and reserved around new children, more like his father. But he’ll go anywhere his sister does, so he reaches forward to grab their father’s hand and looks up at him. “Papa, can Wanda and I go play with David?”

“Of course. Go on inside and play.” Erik nudges them both in and that’s about all the encouragement they need before they’ve both run off inside, with David at their tails. Lorna remains in Erik’s arms, but she’s too busy gnawing at her teething ring to really notice anything going on around her. “She’s still a bit too young to run off and play on her own. I hope you don’t mind her sitting with us?”

“Of course not!” Charles promises. He holds the cafe door open for them and leads Erik to go sit at one of the tables with an easy view of the play area. Without needing any prompting, Charles pulls over a high chair for Lorna.

Erik thanks him and settles Lorna in the chair before he sits across from chair. “That’s quite the charming young man you have. I wish I could get the twins even half as behaved.”

“David? Oh, he’s a mischievous little bugger at home, trust me. He’s just learned how to hide it all when we’re outside so everyone falls in love with him! He’s quite good at it, got it from his mother, I bet. She’s a diplomat,” Charles explains, looking off towards David fondly.

“Ah. Well, he’s a very lucky little boy. Now, shall I go get us some coffee and we can get started on that catching up?” Erik suggests, standing up from his chair.

“I would love that, old friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> David is tiny and posh and proper and I love him :')


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before their first play date is even over, the kids are already making plans for a second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food

A few minutes later, Charles and Erik have gotten their drinks - black coffee for Erik and tea that’s milky beyond recognition for Charles. With their drinks in hand, they sit at a table where they can best supervise the children while they play. They’re quiet for a moment, as they stir sugar into their drinks and watch the kids get acquainted. David is as friendly as his father, and Pietro is always an energetic bundle around new kids, which makes for a good combination to get them playing. Even Wanda comes out of her shell a bit more than usual. With the children settled in, it’s easier to shift their attention to each other. 

 

“So…” Charles has a sip of his drink and looks at Erik. “Quite a lot has changed since we were last in each other’s company for more than a few minutes in drop off or pick up. Though I suppose a decade apart after college graduation will do that to people, no?” 

 

“It’s a rather formative decade,” Erik agrees, in amusement. “Though you’re one to talk. Of all the places I thought I might see you again, teaching in a preschool was last on that list. Last I saw you, you had plans to pursue a  PhD in Genetics.” 

 

“And I did! I even taught at a collegiate level for a while. But then I felt teaching children would be more rewarding so I made the switch. And I haven’t regretted it once,” Charles smiles proudly. 

 

Somehow, Erik isn’t surprised at all by this explanation. It’s very Charles-like, at least going off how Erik remembers the man. “I suppose that’s a valid reason. Married and with a son is still a surprise.” 

 

“Not married, I’m afraid.” Charles shakes his head. “Gabbie - that’s Davey’s mum - and I divorced a few years back. On friendly terms, thankfully. Travelled a bit too much to make it work.” 

 

“Oh, okay.” Erik nods. He’s not entirely sure why that makes him happier than the alternative, but he tells himself it’s just the solidarity of having another single father in the classroom. “I’m sorry to hear that. And David stays with you?” 

 

“Exactly so. His mother travels back and forth between here, Paris, and Tel Aviv. Not exactly the stability a boy needs, so he stays here with me and we make arrangements during school holidays,” Charles explains. 

 

“Tel Aviv,” Erik repeats. “I spent a few years in Israel when I was young.” 

 

“I remember you saying as much in a few of our debates when we were university lads. Mostly in relation to your idea of a mutant-run nation. You used to refer to it as… Mutant Israel, didn’t you?” Charles recalls. 

 

Erik nods, chuckling. “I did. I stand by that idea, by the way, but fatherhood has taken over my priorities. It’s just me and the kids, since Magda passed away.” 

 

“My condolences, Erik. From what I see, though, you’re doing a marvelous job,” Charles says. 

 

Erik nods. Unconsciously, he reaches to stroke one of Lorna’s little hands. She’s just past 18 months old, which makes it little more than a year since Magda's passing. Lorna hardly pays attention to the attention on her, too busy scribbling colorful lines all over the coloring book in front of her. “It’s all right. I’ve done my grieving and moved past. Having the children around certainly helps.” 

 

“From what I’ve spent with them, they’re amazing children, Erik. The twins are an absolute pleasure to work with,” Charles tells him, smiling fondly as he looks towards the children. 

 

“Yeah? You don’t find their mutations to make them insufferable?” Erik chuckles. Most of the complaints he receives about the children, and there are plenty, have to do with their powers. 

 

Charles shakes his head in a heartbeat. “Not at all! I think it’s lovely. I always find it fascinating to see children learning their way around their powers. Besides, I’m a teacher. It’s my job to adjust, not theirs.”

 

“Well, that’s a refreshing take on it,” Erik agrees. He glances towards David, currently climbing around the play area with the twins. “I assume David is a mutant as well.” 

 

“He is. Telekinesis, and he's beginning to develop telepathy as well,” Charles explains, grinning in his son’s direction. 

 

“You must be proud,” Erik says.

 

Charles nods. “Incredibly so. Telepathy is difficult gift to have and he’s been handling is better than anyone could ever expect from a boy his age. He works hard so how could I be anything less than proud?” 

 

“Your son is quite lucky to have you, I think.” Erik says, nodding. 

 

“Thank you, Erik.” Charles chuckles sheepishly, suddenly shy at the praise. “It seems we’ve fallen into the habit of all parents, where we speak of nothing except our children! Tell me about yourself. You wanted to be an engineer, didn’t you? Is that what you’re doing these days?” 

 

“I am, yes. Managed to work it out quite well for myself in that I work from home more often than not. Makes it far easier to take care of this little one,” he says, poking Lorna in the tummy gently. Lorna just giggles and bats her father’s hand away from herself. 

 

“That’s a wonderful arrangement. Who wouldn’t want to spend more time with this lovely little lady?” Charles agrees. He grins at the girl and reaches to pat one of her green curls gently. “If we’re lucky, maybe I’ll get to teach her one day as well.” 

 

“Perhaps. That would be quite the arrangement, wouldn’t it? If you manage to get not one, but three little Lehnsherrs under your tutelage!” Erik says. “Your hair will likely fall out by the end of it. I don’t have easy children to manage.” 

 

“I think they’re a wonder,” Charles promises. 

 

“You’re too kind.” Then Erik laughs. “Look at us. We fell right back into that habit of talking about our children. Barely managed a minute speaking of ourselves!” 

 

“Ah, well. That’s the curse of a parent. We lose the ability to make conversation about anything except our children!” Charles shrugged, smiling fondly as he spotted David coming down a slide. 

 

Erik suggests, “We’ll have to plan another get together. One between just you and I. Perhaps a more grown up outing will finally get us to stop talking about our children.” 

 

Charles hides a smile as he nods. “I would like that.”

  
  


\----

  
  


Some twenty minutes later, they’re packing up to leave and saying goodbye. It’d been a pleasant afternoon for everyone involved and the kids even protest a bit about having to stop their playing. But they have a new week to prepare for, so unfortunately, both Erik and Charles have to be firm. After brief, failed attempts at negotiating for more time from the children, Erik had gone his own way and Charles is strapping David into his booster seat. It’s a bit odd to be reuniting with Erik as a friend and father to two of his students, when their ‘friendship’ in university had been built upon their arguments. Today, they had barely touched the topic of mutant rights, but Charles had almost missed it. Though they had rarely ever agreed, their debates had been one of the most mentally stimulating parts of his university experience. With any luck, their next meeting can involve a good deal or their old political talks. 

 

As he helps David with his seatbelt, he brushes his mind briefly against his son’s. Being around many people, especially children with their eager, uncontrolled young minds, can be a bit exhausting for David and his budding telepathy. Charles makes it a point to check in on him after going out to public places. Minds are delicate things and Charles doesn’t want David to suffer from the burden his gift places on him. After playing with the twins today, David is obviously drained, but happy enough, so Charles lets it be. On particularly rough days, he usually helps mend the strain to David’s mind and puts loose shields into place, but today, he lets David manage on his own. A good learning opportunity. 

 

David, besides, is too excited to notice the exhaustion in his mind. “I had fun, Daddy! The twins are fun. Are we going to see them again? I wanna play with them again, even if they are babies.” 

 

Charles rolls his eyes fondly. David’s only seven, of course, but he’s at an age where anyone even a year younger is classified as a ‘baby’. “They’re only two years younger than you, Davey! They’re not babies at all. But I’m glad you had fun with them. You certainly looked like you were having fun!”

 

“Oh, I was. Pietro and Wanda are pretty cool. We showed off our powers to each other,” David explains, kicking his legs absent mindedly against the back of the center console. 

 

“That does sound pretty cool, buddy,” Charles agrees. At this age, David doesn’t have very many mutant classmates to befriend. He’s already showed his powers at an early age, as have the twins, and presumably, so will little baby Lorna. But most children still tend to present their powers at later ages. The study of advanced human mutations is still so new that most theories are made up more of guesses and anecdotes than actual studies, but the general trend thus far has showed that children with even just one mutant parent manifest their abilities at younger ages than children with two human parents. So any time David gets to interact with other mutants his age is a wonderful experience. 

 

David seems to agree, going off how enthusiastically he’s nodding. “Yeah, Daddy! It was sooo cool. Wanda can move things around with her mind like I do, except when she does it, it gets all glowy and red. Which is way cooler than when I do it just on it’s own. And Pietro goes soooo fast. He picked me up and ran around the block once and it was sooooo fast, Daddy.” 

 

“Oh. You both left the playground?” Charles asks, arching an eyebrow up at him through the rearview mirror. Oh boy. Of course he’d seen at school how fast Pietro can be and how the boy can sometimes be a bit of an escape artist when he wants to spend more time out in recess, but he’d been hoping Pietro wouldn’t do the same today. That’s the problem with little speedsters. Sometimes they’re so fast, they can up and disappear without anyone noticing. 

 

“Um…” David hesitates when he realizes he’s accidentally confessed to something he wasn’t meant to be doing. “Well, I mean… We were only gone less than a second! He picked me up, ran around the block, and came back. I could hardly even notice we’d been gone!” 

 

“Just don’t do it again, buddy. Not without telling me or Pietro’s father. I know new powers are cool and all, but it’s dangerous if we don’t know where you’re going,” Charles says. He can’t really fault David for getting over excited, especially when Charles hadn’t even noticed him and Pietro leaving on their brief escapade. 

 

David shakes his head. “I won’t,” he promises. “I really hope we get to see them again soon so I can play with Pietro and Wanda again. Did you and their daddy make plans again already?” 

 

“Not quite yet, Davey. But when I talk to Erik again, I’ll make sure to mention how much fun you all had together!” Charles assures him. David doesn’t need to know that he and Erik had planned for a kid-less reunion next time, because Charles is almost sure his little boy will commit mutiny if he thinks he’ll miss out on a chance to play with his new friends. Charles will have to bring up the possibility of sharing a babysitter that night so their kids will still play. Or perhaps of relenting to another kids-included activity between them before they go off on their own.

 

However, just because Charles and Erik don’t have concrete plans yet, doesn’t mean the children haven’t been scheming on their own. David nods. “All right. Well, I was talking with the twins about stuff and guess what? They’re Jewish, too! So then Pietro said that’s really cool because can meet up for holidays and then Wanda said that we can even meet up next Friday to celebrate Shabbat together and I said that it sounds like such a perfect plan. Doesn’t it sound like a perfect plan, Daddy? I can play with Pietro and Wanda, and you can talk to their daddy and we can all eat together and it’s just perfect, isn’t it?” 

 

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, David,” Charles says quickly. As he thinks of poor Erik, no doubt getting this same spiel from two kids instead of one, he chuckles a bit. Good thing he and Erik have always managed to respect each other despite their difference in opinions, or it’d be quite awkward for their children to be friends. Charles finds it quite endearing. “I’ll bring it up with Erik, I promise.” 

 

“Good!” David grins and for the rest of the car ride, tells Charles every little detail about his totally cool, super awesome play date. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these kids man, I really do


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The children solidify plans to see each other again.
> 
> Charles encounters a bit of trouble in David's school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see end notes for cw, sort of spoilerish

  
The next time Erik sees Charles is hardly a day after, when he’s picking the twins up the next afternoon. They'd lingered in the classroom to play with the toys a while longer, so Erik goes to fetch them from in there. Pietro and Wanda are sat in a corner, building a great big tower out of LEGOs. He set Lorna down to play with them while he greets Charles, who had come over to say a cheerful hello to Erik.

“Erik! I swear to you, David is still talking about how much fun he had playing with Pietro and Wanda,” Charles tells him, laughing a bit.

Erik understands perfectly, because the twins had also gone on and on about their playdate. The enthusiasm of children knows no bounds. “They enjoyed themselves greatly as well. They keep asking when the next playdate will be.”

“So does David!” Charles nods.

“We both have friendly children, it seems.” Erik looks to the children, who seem to be avoiding eye contact with him in order to prolong their time spent playing. He recalls something they'd told him on the car ride home and turns back to Charles. “The twins mentioned that they’d wanted to spend this Shabbat with David. I don't know how observant you or him are, and I don’t mean to intrude, but the children and I usually just have a small dinner at home. David and you are more than welcome to join us. It would be a chance for the children to get together and play. And for us to catch up more. It’s not the kids-free evening we’d mentioned at first, but I don’t mind if you don’t either.”

“That would be wonderful, Erik! Thank you for the invitation. I'll bring it up with David, though I’m already sure he’ll say yes,” Charles agrees.

“Perfect.” Erik nods. “You'll text me once you've talked to David and we can coordinate.”

“I very much hope we get to do it, Erik,” Charles says. “I'll get back to you no later than tomorrow evening.”

“I'll be waiting,” Erik promises. Finally, he gathers up his children and says goodbye, so they can be on their way to leave.

In the car, the children are an endless stream of questions. “Are we seeing David again, Papa?” Pietro asks.

Wanda is so excited, her booster seat is glowing red from her magic. Erik is the slightest bit worried. She piggybacks off her brother and says, “And Mr. Charles? Outside of school?”

Between them, Lorna doesn't understand much of the conversation, but she's eager to interject her opinion. Mostly, it's just excited babbling and the occasional interjection of, “Pa!”

Erik quiets the three of them with a stern look. “We won't be doing anything if you don't all manage to calm down.”

“...is that a yes?” Pietro is not one to give up easily over just a scary look from Papa.

Erik rolls his eyes as he pulls out of the school parking lot. “It's a maybe.”

  
                      -----

Charles gets caught up in his lesson plans shortly after the Lehnsherrs left. He takes his job very seriously, and wants nothing more than to make sure the kids in his classroom have the best, most productive school year possible. That means putting in the hours so everything goes off without a hitch. Even when he’s done and has gone home with David, he’s still busy helping his son out with the homework he’s been assigned. Between one thing and another, Charles forgets all about Erik’s invitation.

It’s not until the next morning that he remembers, when David is chatting with his mother over Skype. Charles’ laptop is set up in front of the boy’s breakfast and David expertly avoids spilling his orange juice all over the keyboard, no matter how many animated gestures. Skype dates with his mother happen at least twice a week, so David is well practiced. Currently, he’s even more excited than usual, since Charles and Gabrielle have just revealed that David will be taking a bit of a holiday at the end of September, so he can be with his mother on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Gabrielle is currently working off in Israel, so David will be travelling quite a long way. Obviously, that only excites him further.

Charles remembers the previous day’s conversation with Erik while David is busy trying to get his mother to plan every second of the holiday already. He steps closer to his son to wipe some jam off his upper lip and takes advantage of a brief gap of silence to say, “I forgot to mention, David, I spoke with Erik again yesterday. He wanted me to ask if you’d be interested in going over to his house for dinner this Shabbat, so you can play with the twins.”

“Yes!” David exclaims without giving it a moment’s thought. Clearly, he’s been eagerly waiting for another opportunity to play after Sunday, so any excuse is as good as any.

Charles nods and goes to sit with his own breakfast again, leaving David and Gabrielle to enjoy a bit more time before David has to go get dressed for school. Gabrielle gives him a funny little look, but Charles doesn’t think much of it as he nibbles away at his toast. Once David says goodbye and goes off to get dressed, Charles moves to sit in front of his laptop. He and Gabrielle still have a few details of the trip to iron out, after all.

However, that doesn’t seem to be Gabrielle’s first concern this morning. She smirks at Charles as she sips on her afternoon coffee, half a world away. “So. Who’s Erik?”

“Erik? Oh, just an old friend from university whose children wound up in my class. He’s a single father and a mutant as well, so we’ve spent some time bonding over old college memories and over our children,” Charles explains. He’s almost adorably unaware of how the whole situation may sound.

“A friend?” Gabrielle repeats.

Finally, Charles catches on. He’s quick to shake his head. “It’s not like that at all, Gabbie! We really are just friends. And the children got along spectacularly well when they met on Sunday, hence why we’re arranging another playdate for them.”

“You know I wouldn’t be upset, right, Charles? If this Erik is more than a friend, you can tell me,” she insists, looking more interested in the gossip of it than upset that her ex husband may have found himself a boyfriend.

The good part of remaining friends with an ex-spouse after divorce? It makes handling everything with David much, much easier. The bad part? Gabrielle holds absolutely no qualms about teasing Charles as mercilessly as any other friend when she’s under the assumption that he has a new lover. Charles groans and rubs at his temple. Now that he thinks of it, yes, his wording probably doesn’t sound the most innocent. Perhaps if Gabrielle had ever seen Erik in person, she would understand why there’s not a chance of what she’s suggesting. Erik could certainly do much better and regardless, Charles has only ever heard of him having relationships with women. But no, no, he refuses to go into this train of thought.

“He’s really not, Gabbie, and if I did ever start another relationship, you know I’d consult with you before introducing David to anyone,” Charles says. With that, he veers the topic away, and is persistent about keeping it there. “Now, about scheduling David’s flights…”

Gabrielle drops it after that, but only because travel arrangements for a seven year old takes up a great deal of their time and attention. By the time David’s finished getting dressed, the tickets have been bought and the plans almost finalized. Charles would be traveling with David as far as Paris, where Gabrielle’s father lives. Then David would go the rest of the way to Tel-Aviv with his grandfather, to enjoy the Haller family holiday. Then the first few days of October, when the holiday was over, Gabrielle would travel with him back to New York. When Charles relates the plans to David while taking him down to the car, he’s understandably excited. The trip and the upcoming dinner with the Lehnsherr twins is all David talks about on the ride to school.

As they round the corner to David’s school, he starts pulling his backpack up to himself. “Daddy, can I tell my friends about the trip? Or not yet?” he asks.

“Wait until I get a chance to explain to your teacher that you'll have some absences at the end of the month. So it doesn't catch him off guard to hear you talking about it, buddy,” Charles reasons.

David sighs. Clearly, he's eager to share already, because his shoulders sag slightly from being told to wait. “Oh. Okay, Daddy.”

“Though…” Charles hadn't been planning on going in this morning to speak with David’s teacher, but few things are more convincing to him than seeing David disappointed. He can afford to get to his classroom a few minutes later today. “How about I go talk to Mr. Clark right now? Then you can tell your friends about it that much sooner.”

“Really? Yeah! I'd love that!” David agrees, nodding.

Charles nods and pulls the car into the parking lot instead of the drop off line. A change of plans, but again, what wouldn’t Charles do to make David happy? And getting some more time to spend with David in the morning was always a plus. Once the car was parked, he went around to carry David’s backpack for him. This school year, he'd only met David’s teacher once at the back to school night, but he remembers perfectly well how to get to the classroom. Eidetic memory and all that. Still, he pretends to be a bit lost so David can feel big and heroic while he grips his hand and leads him down to Mr. Clark’s classroom.

At the beginning of the year, Charles had been quite pleased to find out David’s teacher. Male teachers are few and far in between in the early childhood education field; Charles had immediately felt a spark of kinship and solidarity. Unfortunately, the feeling doesn't seem to be reciprocated. Charles is always an optimistic man, one who sees the best in people. Yet even he has to admit that Mr. Clark’s discomfort with mutants is blatant. So rather than eager solidarity like at the beginning of the school year, now Charles feels more disillusionment than anything. But he strides forward regardless and when he enters David's classroom, it's nothing less than a polite smile on his face.

Almost immediately, David goes off to play with a friend who's already arrived, so Charles approaches Clark’s desk on his own. Cordial as ever, he reaches to shake the man’s hand. “Mr. Clark, lovely to be in your classroom again. I came to warn you in advance of some days David will be taking off to visit his mother. From the 18th of this month to the 2nd of October. Though, if you verify with the office, you should find that a few of those days - the 21st, 22nd, and 30th - count as excused absences.”

“So long? Very well.” Clark reaches for a calendar on his desk and makes a few markings. It's not the first time that Charles notes he's a man of few words. He looks towards where David is playing and then back at Charles before continuing. “There was nothing else you wanted to speak of, Mr. Xavier?”

Charles frowns when he sees the way Clark glances David’s way. “No… Is there perhaps something else you wanted to speak of?”

“Of sorts. It's more of a… a curiosity regarding your son’s… abilities,” Clark says carefully.

For all he tries to disguise his words, Charles can feel the pang of feardisdaincaution from his son’s teachers. Charles’ frown grows minutely as he crosses his arms over his shoulder. “What about them?”

“I'm merely wondering how far along he is in learning to control all of that?” Clark asks, once more looking David’s direction. Thankfully, David remains blissfully unaware. “A few parents and some members of administration are concerned for the other children, that's all.”

Charles is properly scowling now. He has to remind himself to dampen the anger inside him, lest David notice it and come asking what's wrong. He takes in a long breath before continuing. “Mr. Clark, my son's control over his gifts is astounding for a boy his age. No one has any more to fear from him than they would any other seven year old boy, even if he is a mutant. Not once has he given the school or any of its parents reason to believe he's dangerous or any cause of concern. Now, if this is an issue less with my son, but with mutants as a whole, the school is welcome to schedule a proper meeting with me and we’ll have a nice, long chat about mutantphobia in the classroom. Good day, Mr. Clark.”

Charles doesn't wait for an answer. He forces himself to look and feel calmer than he actually is, and goes to kiss David goodbye before he leaves to work. He hopes this'll be the last of all this, but if it isn't… Well, if the school wants to come after David, Charles dares them to come and try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: pretty blatant mutantphobia (just verbally)
> 
> if anyone's read Love Over Challah, this Shabbat dinner will be even cuter  
> That's all I'm gonna say


	5. Chapter 5

Friday comes quickly and with it, their arranged date between the Lehnsherrs and Xaviers to celebrate the Shabbat together. Usually, Erik keeps things simple. After all, he only cooks for himself and three small children. Today, though, he goes all out. There’s two guests to entertain, so of course Erik wants to put his best foot forward. He tells himself that it’s because Charles teaches the twins, so he only wants him to have high opinions of their family. Erik even calls his mother to ask her for some of her recipes. When he does, she teases him endlessly about his having company over. It’s probably the first time since Magda’s passing that he’s gone out of his way to spend time with someone other than the children. No surprise his mother gets a little excited about it, though Erik tries to tell her not to look too far into it, lest she wind up disappointed.

Erik thinks maybe he should tone it down a little because even the children have noticed and started asking him why he’s being so extravagant about dinner today of all days. Unfortunately, it’s already too late. It’s not like he can somehow uncook the food. Besides, Charles will be here any minute now. Soon enough, as Erik finishes setting the table, there’s a knock on the door. Pietro speeds into the kitchen, as opposed to being helpful and opening the door.

“Papa, there’ someone at the door,” he announces. There’s a brief breeze in the kitchen, then Pietro has raced there and back to check the peephole. “It’s David and Mr. Charles!”

“Let’s let them in, then.” Erik bends down to pick him up and goes to answer the door with Pietro at his hip.

Charles is waiting in the hallway when Erik opens the door. He’s holding a bottle of wine in one hand and David’s shoulder in the other. Just like last time, David is dressed smartly, though today, he’s added a kippah to the ensemble. Erik notes, with a great deal of amusement, that the kippah appears to be Spiderman themed. How adorable. Mostly, Erik is impressed at how Charles has once again been successful in getting David presentable. It almost feels like Charles has a tiny version of his undergrad self as his son. No one can deny it’s adorable, and probably incredibly convenient.

“Charles, I’m so glad you could make it. And you brought along a little hero with you! How exciting,” Erik says, smiling down at David as he lets them in.

“Spidey’s my favorite!” David giggles as he comes inside. Less than five seconds into his coming inside and Pietro has already wiggled loose from his father’s arms so he can rush over to his toys and motion for David to follow. Of course, David does so and just seconds after arriving, he runs off to play with the twins.

Charles can only look onto them with amusement. He works with children all day, so of course he’s used to how excited they can get at times. He’s not too bothered. Still, as he comes in, he says, “I’m sorry, Erik. He didn’t even say a proper hello. He’s usually more polite than that. He’s excited to see the twins, that’s all!”

“It’s perfectly fine, Charles,” Erik promises, waving away his concerns. “I think your son is still probably more polite than my kids, so we’ll call it even.”

“Let’s go with that. I brought wine along, I hope it’s to your liking,” Charles says, presenting it to Erik.

“Certainly more expensive than anything I have just lying around! Let me go set it up on the table,” Erik says, excusing himself for a moment to go to the kitchen and put it down on the table. When he comes back out to the living room, Charles is crouched down in front of Lorna, who looks very serious as she shows him one of her drawings. It’s nothing but scribbles, but Charles gazes at it like it’s Picasso.

When she hears him coming, Lorna turns back towards him and holds the drawing towards him. “Pa!” she exclaims proudly. “Loo’!”

“Oh, I see! What beautiful artwork, darling. And I see you’ve showed Charles your beautiful artwork as well,” Erik praises, smiling. He leans down and kisses her little head. He can never get enough of kissing and hugging his children.

Charles nods eagerly. “She did and it was simply gorgeous, wasn’t it, Lorna?” he coos to her, earning a giggle from the girl in return.

“I can see why you became a teacher,” Erik notes. He scoops Lorna up in his arms and stands up again. “Dinner’s ready, kids. Go on and get a seat.”

Erik steps out of the way just slightly, because somehow, even just three kids racing to the kitchen can feel like a stampede. Once the kids are calm once more, Erik goes in after them and settles Lorna in her high chair. The whole table is set and ready to go, just a matter of going through the blessings and lighting the candles. David seems very eager to help with the whole process, and since he’s the guest, Erik lets him, expecting to step in a few times and offer a helping hand, as he does with the twins. Instead, David goes through the whole thing in some rather well pronounced Hebrew. Erik’s impressed. Well behaved, well dressed, and apparently, well ahead in his Hebrew studies as well. Erik is starting to think he should be even more jealous of Charles for managing to get a package deal. Erik sometimes still struggles to get the twins out with their clothing right side on. Even now, Lorna seems to have already managed to spill grape juice all over herself.

When they finally sit to eat, Erik decides a bit of praise is in order. “That was very well done, David. You sounded very grown up.”

David beams at him proudly. “Thank you, Mr. Lehnsherr! My grandpa’s a rabbi so he makes sure I learn lots. And my mom works in Israel a lot of the time, so when I go visit her, I get to practice my Hebrew.”

“You can just call me Erik, David,” he assures him. “Good on you for being such a quick study. You take after your father in that regard, I think. He was always an excellent student, when he wasn’t busy out partying.”

Charles laughs. “Don’t start, Erik. If you do, I’ll be forced to share stories with your children as well and then we’ll be stuck in an endless, fruitless crossfire.”

“Not too different from university, then.” Erik smirks a he takes a sip of his wine.

“You have embarrassing stories of Papa?” Wanda asks, her eyes widening at the prospect. It’s not often Erik brings by any old friends of his to meet the children, so they haven’t had too much of an opportunity to amass blackmail against him.

He nods. “Oh, yes! Plenty of stories about your father. When I met him, he was very young. Just a teenager, really!”

Pietro squeals with delight. “Tell us the stories, Mister Charles! All of them, all of them! Then we can tease Papa about it!”

“I want to hear stories about my dad, too!” David complains, moving his chair to sit a little closer to Erik.

Erik and Charles met each other’s eyes and just laughed. They’d dug themselves into this hole. The kids were likely to start a revolt if they didn’t get their stories, so as a compromise, the two of them find not so terrible stories about each other to share. Just silly enough to amuse the kids, but nothing too awful that will haunt them for years to come if their children know it. Charles tells the twins about how Erik graduated a year late after being receiving a suspension for interrupting a freshman welcome address for a pro-mutants’ speech. In turn, Erik tells David about the time Charles had accidentally gotten caught up in a riot and Erik had to swoop in and save him. At the end, the kids are satisfied and they've stopped demanding more embarrassing stories from them. As they eat dessert, the kids are mostly entertaining themselves while Charles and Erik nurse their wine among themselves.

“It's funny how many of our college memories involve each other,” Charles notes. “And we weren’t even friends. Imagine all the memories if we had been friends!”

“No doubt it would have been a bit much for the faculty to handle,” Erik agreed, laughing.

“The university would have kicked us out on our first semester,” he says, oddly proudly.

Erik grins. “Think of the chaos we would have caused being friends during that time. Probably too much for anyone to handle.”

“Much better that we’re friends now.” He nodded. “Better for the rest of the world, now that we’ve calmed down to a life of fatherhood.”

Erik stifles a smile. He hadn't thought about them being friends, but he supposes that's true. Dinner between their families implies a bit more than just parent and teacher relationship. Oddly for someone as much of a loner as Erik is, he finds he doesn't really mind it so much. He can live with playdates between David and the twins becoming the norm, with Charles coming around more often. It might even be nice.

As dinner finishes, the kids move out to the living room to play while Erik starts putting dishes away in the sink. Charles, despite Erik’s insistence that it’s unnecessary, helps with the washing up. They settle into a routine of Erik washing while Charles dries. They start off mostly in silence, working and listening to the children playing in the living room. Mostly just giggles and excited squealing. After a while, Erik hears Charles let out a pensive sigh next to him. He looks towards him with an arched brow.

“Everything all right, Charles?” he asks.

“Just thinking about David…” Charles answers. He hesitates another moment before continuing. He warns, “I don't want your militant, activist opinion on this all, okay? I’m only telling you for your opinion as a father.”

Erik nods slowly. “All right. My opinion as a father only, you have my word.”

“Right. With the twins, have you ever had problems with faculty about the twins and their powers?” Charles turns to look towards Erik now, frowning.

He almost sneers as he recalls it. Try as he might to separate the activist from the father, they're “Their powers came in only about halfway through last year. So there hasn't been that much time, but yes, of course I've had problems. Every little incident in the classroom or between them was supposedly because of their powers. Nevermind that it was a classroom full of preschoolers and incidents are normal. No, it was always the mutations’ fault.”

“Like when we were in university, I suppose,” Charles agrees. “Only at least we were fully grown during, not just little kids.”

“Exactly. So I take it something happened with David?” Erik’s finished washing the dishes now and he just leans back against the counter as he waits to hear more about the incident.

Charles nods. “Sort of. It wasn't outright aggression, it was just enough to leave me uneasy, that's all. David’s teacher asked about how far along David is in controlling his powers. It's a legitimate question, but… just the way he asked, he obviously wasn't asking with innocent intentions. They’re just..”

“Waiting for something to happen so they can start pointing fingers?” Erik supplies.

“Exactly that.” He sighs. “I don't like that this is how we’re starting the year. I don't even want to imagine if it keeps escalating as the year goes.”

“I understand,” Erik promises. He's dealt with plenty of bullshit about the twins’ powers. He can't even imagine what David might have to deal with, being a telepath. Telepaths are among the most widely feared mutants. The unfortunate truth is that even among mutant communities, telepaths are treated with fear and misunderstanding. It makes Erik furious and it's not even his own son.

Charles nods again and goes to peek his head out into the living room. The kids are still busy playing, entirely distracted and unaware of anything their parents may be talking about. Charles watches them for a moment before turning back to Erik. “Who knows, maybe after all those years of fighting against each other we’ll finally find ourselves fighting on the same side.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food

 

As always happens every September, the hustle and bustle of the new school year soon fades back into routine. Unlike every September, this year’s routine includes David arranging playdates with the Lehnsherr twins, having Shabbat dinners at Erik’s place, and when neither of those two things was presently happening, having David constantly asking when the next time together will be. At least, until a few days before David’s trip when his conversation turns from playing to his trip and when they’ll be leaving. If David overexcited for playdates was a hassle to deal with through daily routines, David overexcited for his holiday to visit his mother is doubly difficult to keep under control. 

 

Throughout the week, David’s poor bedroom becomes a mess, from the occasional flaring of his telekinetic powers whenever he gets too excited. Which, in the days leading up to his flight, is often. Too often. Charles is far too often half tempted to use his telepathy to sedate him a bit. He never does, of course, but his little lad is definitely a handful. When he goes to drop him off, Charles is thankful to have a bit of a break. Predictably, he’s unbearably sad when he comes home to a childless apartment. He’s endlessly grateful, not for the first time, that their custody agreement has him with David most of the time. The apartment just doesn’t feel like a home without the pitter patter of David running around or the buzz of his mind in the background. 

 

Charles arrives home and immediately makes himself a strong cup of tea, intent on spending the rest of the weekend curled up with their cat Cerebro and binge watching documentaries. He’s only just started the second one when his phone rings with a text notification. It’s too early for David to have landed again, so Charles is entirely unsure who it might be. When he turns his phone towards himself, it’s Erik’s name atop the notification. 

 

{ _ sms from Erik Lehnsherr}  _ The kids were asking after you. Want t o come by for dinner?

 

Charles is quick to reply. 

{ _ sms to Erik Lehnsherr}  _ I’m afraid David’s just left on his trip! But I’ll let him know you thought of him.

 

_ {sms from Erik Lehnsherr}  _ You can come around on your own. The kids would be happy to see you as well, even without David. 

 

_ {sms to Erik Lehnsherr}  _ Are you quite sure, Erik? I don’t want to intrude on your family time.

 

_ {sms from Erik Lehnsherr}  _ I’m positive, Charles. Come on over. 

 

So Charles does. Even if he feels a bit like he’ll be out of place among Erik’s family without David along. At least even feeling awkward at Erik’s place will be better than sitting alone with a at all day long. Not to mention, it gets his mind off missing David. He gets dressed in something other than sweatpants and his old college hoodie, so he can look at least slightly presentable for the Lehnsherrs. Good thing, too, because when he arrives and Erik opens the door, Erik looks impeccable as always. At home, Charles dresses as lazily as humanly possible. Erik, it seems, prefers to treat his home like it’s a fashion runway. 

 

“Charles, I’m so glad you could make it. The kids opted for takeout dinner on the coffee table,” Erik says, letting Charles inside. He chuckles, the exhausted chuckle all parents recognize as signifying there was a battle fought and lost recently. “I hope that’s fine with you?” 

 

“Of course, Erik, of course! You invited me over, I’m in no place to be picky.” In all truth, a Saturday evening spent eating greasy takeout sounds like the perfect night, but Charles feels he has a certain reputation to uphold, so he tries to pretend otherwise. 

 

“There’s plenty of food. Take what you please,” Erik assures him. 

 

In the living room, there’s several containers of chinese food spread out on the coffee table, while the twins are sitting in front of the TV with paper plates on their laps. It seems even runway models in training, like Erik seems to be, follow the universal rule that take out day equals no washing day. When the twins spot him, there’s a flurry of motion as they both scramble to put their containers down and go greet Charles. A brief fear runs through him of the plates of food overturning and spilling in their haste, but thankfully, Wanda’s powers seem to help in stabilizing everything. Moments later, Charles has a twin at each leg, hugging him. 

 

“Charles! You came!” Pietro exclaims. 

 

Charles smiles and ruffles up Pietro’s hair, much like he would do to David. “Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss hanging out with my favorite twins.” 

 

“Papa said David is visiting his mommy, so you might not come.” Wanda sits back down, taking Charles’ hand to take him down onto the floor with them. 

 

“David is visiting his mother for a bit, yes.” Charles nods. “But I’m happy to see all of you, even on my own!” 

 

“Will David be back soon?” Pietro aks. Of course, Charles is wonderful company to them, but someone to play with is even better. 

 

Charles starts moving food onto his plate and leans back against the couch with the paper plate in his lap. “After Yom Kippur. So you’ll see him soon enough, don’t you worry.” 

 

“”Good! We’ll have soooo much to catch up on!” Pietro grins and turns back to where the television is playing some sort of superhero cartoon. Spiderman, if Charles took a guess. And with David at home, Charles knows a ridiculous amount about superhero cartoons. 

 

Erik settles himself on the other side of the couch Charles is leaning up against. Amused, Erik smirks down at Charles on the floor. “You’re welcome to come sit on the couch. You know that, right? You’re not condemned onto the floor with the children.” 

 

“I’m quite all right down here,” Charles promises, laughing. “I work a kindergarten classroom. Doing that, one gets very used to tiny chairs very quickly.” 

 

“Lucky you were always on the short side, huh?” Erik teases. Charles recalls a few of their…  _ less sober  _ debates in university when they’d delved into personal attacks. Heights was one of Erik’s favorites, always. 

 

Charles can just as easily delve back into childish undergrad habits. “I think it’s better I leave the couch completely open for you. It’s the only way to fit in your gigantic shark teeth.” 

 

“Oh, stop.” Erik laughs. The children look at them a bit strangely, but then go right back to their cartoon while he just continues, “Let’s not get into these old times, lest we go back to the nasty parts of those nights.” 

 

“Like me calling you a terrorist in training?” Charles asks. He remembers too late that the children are still in the room, but thankfully, they’re too distracted by the cartoons playing to pay them much attention. 

 

Erik nods. “Exactly that. And me calling you a good for nothing pacifist that’s no better than the ones who’d want to slaughter us. I remember those times very well.” 

 

“Clearly, you didn’t grow up to be a terrorist,” Charles remarks, chuckling regretfully. With how fiery the two of them had been in their youth, there’s plenty of past words and actions to regret.

 

Erik looked like he might also half-apologize, but then he obviously decides against it. Instead, Erik just smirks down at Charles. “That’s true. But you… well, wound up doing exactly as I expected you to in order to further the cause. That is, nothing.” 

 

“Oh, shush.” Charles swats at Erik’s leg defensively. “You have no idea what I do in my time outside work.” 

 

“I suppose not. Go on, then, I’d love to hear your extensive mutant rights activism resume,” Erik prompts. 

 

“Perhaps I don’t want to share with a bully like you,” Charles teases, sticking his tongue out at him. Even trying to move past their childish feuds in the past, doesn’t mean the two of them won’t still act like massive children. “I’ll have you know I thought of you plenty in those first few months after my PhD, when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.” 

 

“Oh, did you?” Erik asked, winking at him to make sure it’s perfectly obvious that he’s thinking entirely inappropriately about this. 

 

Charles rolls his eyes and swats at him again. “Not like that. I mean I thought a lot about all the things you’d said to me. For a while, I convinced myself I was going to start a school. A place for young mutants to go and be around their own and not be afraid while they discover their powers. It was going to be in the manor I grew up on. You probably went to it once or twice during the parties I’d throw over summer break.”  

 

“The castle you call a childhood home? Oh, I remember it clearly,” Erik promises. “It’s certainly big enough to have a whole school-full of children running around in it. What stopped you? I think it would have been a marvelous project.” 

 

“I don’t know….” Charles shrugs. He’d had the money for it, had the space, had the time to devote to the project.But it had always felt like a terrible risk in life and if there’s one thing Charles is constantly guilty of, it’s holding back on any risk too great if he doesn’t have someone pushing him towards it. “I suppose I just kept pushing it off because I didn’t know where to start. It all seemed too big so I postponed and postponed until before I knew it, I’d settled down at another job and with a baby to take care of. And it just… never happened.” 

 

“Classic Charles,” Erik says. It holds no malice, though, for once. Now that he’s finished eating, Erik sets his plate aside and moves to sit down on the floor next to Charles. “Well, you still have that castle to your name, right?” 

 

“It’s not a castle, but yes. I do and lest I sell it, I’ll have it until it passes onto David someday,” he confirms, nodding. 

 

“Perfect. See? No reason why you can’t still start your school someday,” Erik says. From the sounds of it, it seems Erik has taken to the idea and will be pushing for it from now on. 

 

Charles just shakes his head, though. “I think I’ve gotten too old for that, Erik.” 

 

“Charles!” Erik scoffs. “You’re 34. That’s hardly an age to retire. You have plenty of time ahead of you. And you’re a teacher already. It’s not some huge career change.” 

 

“Yes, but… But I have a son! I’m busy being a father.” 

 

“A mutant son. One who’s having trouble in school right this moment because of his mutation. Think of how many others like him there might be. And how good having a school just for us would do.” 

 

Charles sighs. Perhaps he shouldn’t have mentioned anything. For all that people like to pretend that Charles is the idealist dreamer, Erik is really the one who will get an idea and stick to it until death do them part. No doubt this won’t be the last Charles hears of this. For now, he just shakes his head. “We’ll see, Erik. We’ll see.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: food, alcohol

 

For his childless Rosh Hashanah, Charles had both expected and been looking forward to doing his lesson plans as any normal day. He loves when the holidays are spent with David, of course; it’s a lovely time that always brings them closer as a family. However, it never fails that from the time he has to take off, his lesson planning and work end up being backed up. With David gone with his mother, Charles has no reason to fall back so severely on his work. What he hadn’t been counting on was to receive a call from Erik a few hours before he and David would normally be sitting down for an Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner. 

 

Charles answers the call immediately after spotting Erik’s name as the contact. Admittedly, he’s caught a bit off guard. “Erik?” 

 

“Charles!” It’s not Erik’s voice on the other end, but instead, Wanda’s. Clearly, she’s a bit too excited and Charles suspects her father has let her dive into the honey and sweets a bit too early. “Charles, we’re having dinner for Rosh Hashanah. You should come!” 

 

“Oh, that’s a lovely invitation, Wanda, but David is still gone with his mother, so it would just be boring old me,” Charles warns. He’s only just reminded them of this earlier when they’d invited him to dinner, but they’re little, so Charles reckons they’ve just forgotten quickly. 

 

“We know!” another little voice exclaims. Pietro’s this time. Charles guesses he must be on speaker. “We want you here anyway, Charles.” 

 

“Oh! I’m flattered for the invitation, you two. But does your father know?” he asks. 

 

Erik answers, sounding farther away from the phone than the twins do. “He does and he’s already cooked enough for you to join us, so I’m afraid you have no choice but to say yes, Charles.” 

 

“All right, all right. I’ll be right over,” Charles promises, laughing. There’s the easily distinguishable sound of the children cheering as he hangs up and starts to get ready. 

 

So much for his productive, childless Rosh Hashanah, but can’t quite bring himself to regret accepting the invitation. There’ll always be time to catch up on his work later, and he can skip out on a few hours of sleep if it comes to that. But there’s few other times throughout the year that are so perfectly meant to be shared among family and friends. Even friends that are a bit of an odd group like him and Erik with their families. So he’s happy to spend time with Erik and his kids, maybe happier than one should be about having dinner with an old classmate and his kids, without even the excuse of your own son to normalize it a bit. But that’s irrelevant, as far as Charles is concerned. He enjoys himself when he goes and that’s the only thing that matters to him. 

 

He brings out some of his nicer clothing for the dinner, though he doubts the Lehnsherr household will be particularly strict when it comes to dress codes. Erik doesn’t seem the type and certainly not with three children in the house. But Charles still wants to at least attempt to look a little nicer for the holiday. It’s the least he can do if Erik is willing to take him in and feed him for the evening. Charles remembers the many hours he’d put into cooking in previous years. Coordinating the holidays takes a great deal out of a man, even if the hosting is only for family and another guest or two. 

 

Charles makes sure to also show up at the Lehnsherr’s apartment brandishing a bottle of wine. When he knocks, his hand hasn’t even had a chance to retreat from the door before Pietro is pulling it open. Charles has seen the little boy’s antics around the classroom often enough to guess that he’d used his powers to beat his siblings to the door. Just like in the classroom, Charles is more impressed by his control of his mutation than aggravated by it. Even more so when Pietro immediately leaps forward and wraps his arms around Charles’ waist to hug him. Charles is absolutely charmed as he crouches down to hug him back and is soon joined by Wanda and even little Lorna greeting him with equal friendliness. 

 

“Charles! You made it!” Wanda exclaims. 

 

Charles nods as he stands up again and pats all their heads. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss this invitation for the world!” 

 

“Good! Papa makes the best dinners when it’s the holidays because he gets on the phone with Bubbe and she talks him through the whole thing and it’s soooo yummy,” Pietro says, grabbing Charles’ hand to start pulling him towards the kitchen. 

 

The children are all crowding around him and pulling him in all directions in a fast little blur, but Charles thankfully has enough experience with children to manage. He tucks the bottle of wine under his arm and reaches down to pick Lorna up in one arm, since she’s holding her arms out to be raised. Then he lets Pietro and Wanda steer him along to the kitchen where Erik is blaring klezmer music from a speaker in the corner while he maneuvers through various dishes on the stove tops and oven and countertop. Charles very easily recognizes the aesthetic of being a frazzled single parent on the holidays. 

 

“Erik!” Charles places the bottle of wine down in an empty corner of the counter. “I brought along some wine, but please, delegate me to wherever you need a bit of extra help tonight.” 

 

“I’m just glad for your company, Charles. Why don’t you go and keep the children busy in the living room while I finish up here?” Erik suggests, glancing at him briefly before going back to the potatoes in front of him. 

 

“If you’re sure,” he says, reaching for Wanda’s hand to pull her towards him while her father works. “This seems like an awful lot of food for just us.” 

 

“This? Oh, I always make enough to have leftovers to donate to the mutant community center and the JCC down the road the next day. We take care of our own in this household. Now go off to the living room for a while and I’ll call you to eat when we’re ready to eat,” Erik insists, shooing them away with the kitchen towel. 

 

Charles relents finally and herds the twins towards the living room while carrying their sister. The children follow easily and they settle down in the floor in front of the couch, where the twins start to Charles every detail of their day, as though most of it hadn’t been spent with him at kindergarten. Still, Charles is happy to listen and nod along as they recount their version of the day's events. Within minutes, Charles has Lorna on his lap as she peruses a picture book and the twins snuggled to his side as they tell their stories. With the children all snuggled up, the smell of dinner cooking a few feet away, and the jolly tunes of a klezmer band playing from the kitchen, Charles feels oddly at home, even if David is half a world away with his mother. 

 

Soon enough, Erik is calling that dinner is ready and the twins have run off to help set the table before Charles even has a chance to stand up. He chuckles to himself as he sets aside Lorna’s picture book and stands up with her in his arms. He’d always thought he’d had it hard raising David almost on his own, yet here Erik is, doing a brilliant job with three little ones running amok. He’s decently impressed. 

 

Charles carries Lorna to the dining table, where Erik has set the food out and the twins are doing a speedy job of putting out plates and silverware. Erik has set two bottles of wine on the table, the one that Charles brought and one of his own, and there’s already glasses of grape juice set out for the children. Though he’s only joined the Lehnsherrs for a handful of dinners, he knows the routine well enough that he helps to settle Lorna in her high chair and to calm the twins down while they go through the appropriate blessings. When they’re finally sitting and eating, Charles relaxes for a moment with a sip of his wine and tries to hide a smile behind the glass. 

 

It’s not very successful, apparently, because Erik gives him an odd look from across the table. “What are you smirking at over there, Charles?” 

 

“Just because anytime you move your lips it’s either to smirk or insult someone, doesn’t mean everyone else is the same,” Charles chides. “I’m not smirking, I’m only smiling. Because I’m happy. That’s what people tend to do when they’re happy.” 

 

“Happy? And what are you so happy about?” he asks. 

 

Charles just laughs. Usual Erik, finding it so hard to see the good in little situations. “My son’s off in Israel with his mother, and I still managed to start off the holiday at a family affair. Who wouldn’t be happy? Not to mention, a delicious dinner I didn’t have to make myself. What else could a man want?”

 

“Good to see you’re as disgustingly optimistic as always, Charles. But I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. We’re happy to have you,” Erik says earnestly. “And you have no one to thank for dinner but my mother. These are all her recipes.” 

 

“Well, hopefully, someday I’ll get to meet her and extend her my personal thanks!” Charles agrees. 

 

“Perhaps, Charles. Perhaps.” 

 

Sometime after dinner, he and Erik have made their way to the couch, sipping at glasses of wine while they watch the children play amongst themselves. Most of the wine from dinner is gone and while Charles hasn’t had so much that he feels it’s inappropriate, he’s had enough to be feeling it. Certainly enough that he’s glad he took a cab here instead of his own car. With the wine making his head feel a bit lighter and certainly raising his spirits up higher, Charles is even happier he made it to the Lehnsherrs home to start off the new year. This is far, far better than staying at home and making lesson plans. He doesn’t know what he was ever thinking when he thought that would be a better way to spend the evening. 

 

Plus, he’s sure David will be ecstatic during their phone call the next morning, once he finds out that Charles spent the evening with his friends. 

 

“You should take me along when you go leave all that food at the mutant community center. I’ve always meant to go and get involved, but between a doctorate, David, and work, it seemed to always escape me,” Charles says, finishing his wine and setting the glass aside. That’s enough for tonight. 

 

Erik smirks over his glass. “Sure. I’m sure the youth group will be happy to meet a new role model who’s not some leftist extremist.” 

 

“That’s one way to describe you,” Charles agrees, laughing. “Sure, sure! As long as it’s outside school hours, I can tag along. Just send me a message and I’ll meet you here and we can head out together.” 

 

“Sounds like a plan, Charles.” Erik leaned forward to pat Charles’ knee before he stands up. “Alright, you three. Say goodnight to Charles. It’s bedtime.” 

 

There’s a chorus of complaints, but the twins both bid him a goodnight while hugging his legs and even Lorna toddlers over to join in. Charles swears his heart has never felt warmer. He pats all their heads before they go off to their rooms, then goes to collect his jacket once more. While the children go towards their rooms, Charles goes to say his own goodbye to Erik. “I’ll see myself out now. Once again, thank you for the invitation, my friend. It was an absolute joy to join you and the kids.” 

 

Erik insists on walking him to the door and holds it open for Charles as he steps out. “Thank you for accepting. The children were overjoyed to have you. And to be honest, as was I.” 

 

“I was glad to see you, too. As always,” Charles says. If his cheeks are flushed, it’s because of the wine, surely. 

 

“Of course…” Erik nods. He makes no move to close the door again. Once more, if they both linger at the doorway, it’s because of the wine, surely. Finally, Erik adds, “Say, Charles, what would you say to having dinner together?” 

 

Charles laughs. “I’ve just had dinner with you now, haven’t I? I think you already know I’m amenable.” 

 

“No, no. I mean having dinner  _ together _ ,” Erik repeats. “No kids, just us two. Somewhere not in our apartments. Somewhere nice? Maybe… like a date?” `

 

“Oh.” Now, Charles probably can’t claim that his blushing is because of the wine. He stares dumbly at Erik for a second before catching himself and nodding quickly. “Yes. Yes, I’d like that very much, Erik.” 

 

“Perfect. I’ll call you tomorrow with details?” he suggests, taking a step closer to Charles. 

 

Charles nods and inches closer as well. He just might kiss him, he thinks. Or at least… he would, if they weren’t just then interrupted by a little voice from the bedrooms, screaming, “Papa! Lorna stole my pants!” 

 

Erik pulls away before they can truly lean into each other, and glances towards the hallway. He just shakes his head good naturedly. “Fatherhood calls, I’m afraid. But I’ll be in touch with you tomorrow, Charles.” 

 

“Of course, Erik. Go find Pietro’s pants. I look forward to hearing from you again, old friend.” 


	8. Chapter 8

Erik needs more girl friends. Or more socialite friends. Or just more friends in general. Really, anyone who could help him out in a moment like this, where he’s cycled through four possible date outfits already and the time he and Charles are meant to meet only creeps steadily closer. He’s being a bit ridiculous, he knows, but he hasn’t gone on a date since Magda died and he really just wants it to be perfect. Especially since Charles will still be the twins’ teacher no matter how this go. Erik would rather the rest of the school year not be dragged on with awkward glances and uncomfortable silence. 

 

Erik is about to cycle out to yet another shirt - maybe try it out with a kerchief or scarf this time around? - when there’s a ringing at his doorbell. Right. Okay. Charles is here. No more time to try out more outfits. Erik glances at the mirror and decides this is probably good enough. He hopes, anyway.  Charles1 will probably be dressed just like a grandfather, Erik knows, and to add insult to injury, he’ll look cute as a button when he does. There’s no point in Erik competing, really. When he goes to open the door, he finds that yes, indeed, Charles’ outfit of choice is a pair of khakis and a baby blue cardigan. It looks like something Erik’s grandfather would wear to shul. And somehow he still looks, just like Erik predicted, cute as a button.

 

“You look nice,” he decides to say, even though he knows it sounds rather cliche and idiotic.

 

“You do, too,” Charles agrees, smiling up at him. “Though to be fair, when we see each other, we’re almost always running after our children.” 

 

“That’s true enough.” Erik levitates his keys into his pocket and steps out so he and Charles can be on their way. The door closes shut and locks on its own behind him. “Are we going to be doing that thing where we try to avoid talking about our kids all evening and fail miserably?” 

 

Charles laughs. “God, no. Why set ourselves up for failure? David flies back in tomorrow. I’d never be able to shut up about it.” 

 

“Does he? Oh, that’s fun. Are you two going to be building a sukkah together?” he asks. He’s’ sure the kids will be ecstatic to hear that David will be coming back home soon. They’d missed their playmate while he was away. 

 

“His mother is staying through sukkot so I imagine she and he will build one while I stay far away so as to not ruin it with how incompetent my building skills are,” Charles answers. Out on the street, Charles’ car is parked in the curb and he opens the door for Erik before going around to the driver’s side. “I’ll probably make sure there’s a constant supply of tea and hot chocolate on hand. That’ll be my contribution to the sukkah.” 

 

“Oh sounds like you’ll be doing the most important part of all, Charles! I’ve been told I’m an excellent excellent sukkah builder, if David or his mother decide they need someone to give them a hand. Or if you decide to come by to mine!  It’s the twins’ favorite time of the year,” Erik says. Actually, it had been his favorite holiday as a child, as well. It was like a fun excuse to go camping, except not really, because home and indoor plumbing was always a short walk away. 

 

“Oh, I’ll let his mother know that she has the Master of Magnetism at her disposal!” Charles exclaims. “Quite the privilege to have!”

 

He groans. “God, you remember that stupid nickname?”

 

“I remember much more where that came from, Lehnsherr!” 

  
  
  


                                                                                                              -----

  
  
  
  


A few hours later, Charles is finally driving Erik back home. They’d stayed chatting (and arguing) for far too long after dessert, before finally leaving after one too many not so subtle hints from their waiter. They’d wandered into a coffee shop to argue for a while longer, about policy makers and segregated spaces and just about anything else that crossed their minds. From the outside, it probably looked like they were worst enemies only getting together so they could fight it out But Erik and Charles are both strange men, so of course, this was nothing but pure joy for the both of them. They’d have likely gone on for much longer, had it not been for Erik’s babysitter sending many cryptic messages to imply that the kids were on the verge of overpowering her and she would really be very happy if Erik could hurry up and come back home. 

 

So now Charles is reluctantly pulling up at Erik’s apartment building, bringing the car to a stop in front of it. “Well… here you are.” 

 

“Here I am,” he agrees, looking out the window at the front entrance. 

 

“Are you sure you don’t live a couple of blocks further down?” Charles asks, laughing softly. “I’d be happy to keep driving you around.” 

 

Erik looks amused as he unbuckles his seat belt anyway. “As much as I’d love to keep reminding you of all the reasons your ideas are foolish, I’m afraid I really should be getting back to the kids. Before they start a revolution or something.” 

 

“You’re right, of course. Tonight would be an unfortunate day to begin the inevitable Lehnsherr Children dictatorship,” he says, if perhaps a bit disappointed. 

 

“You could always come upstairs for a while longer,” Erik suggests, as nonchalantly as he can. 

 

Charles sighs and shakes his head, regardless of how much he’d like to agree. “I’d love to. But I’m afraid I have my own paternal duties to attend. David’s flight comes in early tomorrow and I’m picking him up at the airport. That means an early night for me. Or,” he checks his wrist watch briefly, “a relatively early night.” 

 

“Of course, of course. Go on home. I’m sure I’ll see you soon regardless,” Erik promises. 

 

The car door is already open and Erik is halfway through stepping out before he leans back in, gives Charles the briefest of kisses, and then goes on his way like nothing at all. Charles is left behind, feeling a bit like a flustered schoolboy. It’s not entirely pathetic. He manages to get it together after a minute or so of just sitting there with his mouth gaping open like a bit of an idiot. But he has a home to get back to and sleep to get so he can be on time to pick up David. That doesn’t stop him from dialing Raven’s number and putting it on speaker for the rest of his drive home. 

 

Raven, bless her, answers a few rings in, despite the fact that this time on a Saturday night, she’s almost definitely out having a good time. “Charles Xavier, you’d best have something good to tell me.” 

 

“I’m on my way home from a date,” he blurts out. Charles has never really been one for subtlety or finesse. 

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up.” It’s a miracle Charles’ hearing doesn’t go out from the screeching. “You were on a date?” 

 

“That’s what I just said. Do try to keep up, dear,” Charles chides, for no other reason than because he has to keep up his role as big brother and that involves a fair bit of teasing. “I was and I just dropped him back off and he kissed me and it really was small and nothing big at all but my heart is racing like it’s the Royal Ascot and I’m not quite sure what to make of it all and-” 

 

“All right, I’m going to cut you off now because you’re rambling terribly and you only ramble when you’re drunk, talking about science, or smitten. I assume you’re not drunk?” she asks. 

 

“No, no, of course not. Good grief, it’s not a very promising sign that all this has me so worked up like this, does it? Or maybe it’s an incredibly promising sign, I don’t know. I’m hardly even thinking straight, Raven, this is like being twelve all over again,” Charles mumbles, sighing. 

 

“You’re always so dramatic. This is good! I’m glad you’re getting out again. It’s good for you. Is it anyone I know? I don’t seem to remember you talking about anyone new lately,” Raven says.

 

“Just because I don’t talk to you about it doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” Charles reminds. “And… Well, I don’t know if you remember him, but it’s Erik Lehnsherr. From Columbia.” 

 

Raven is silent for entirely too long. Then, “Holy shit. Erik Lehnsherr? The Erik Lehnsherr? The man I had to hear you complain about all through your undergrad?” 

 

“Times change, Raven.” 

 

“How’d you even run into him again? You don’t particularly run in the same circles as him,” Raven says, which is an understatement. They’ve just spent an entire date basically arguing, haven’t they? But it’s sort of their thing, he supposes. 

 

“Well, his kids are in my class-” Charles gets cut off in a heartbeat. 

 

“Oh my god, your fucking one of your kid’s parents? Isn’t that on your big no-no list?” Raven asks. 

 

“It’s…” He clears his throat as he tries to find an appropriate response. “We haven’t slept together and it’s different circumstances, Raven. Listen, I didn’t call you to have you bestow your judgement upon me.” 

 

“Why did you call me anyway? Because so far, all I’ve heard from you is smitten ramblings and the fact that you’ve been hiding something as big as Erik Lehnsherr from me since the beginning of the school year, apparently.” 

 

Charles sighs. “I’m not quite sure why I called either. I suppose I was just looking for a supportive ear! Should have known you’d never be up for that!” 

 

“Oh, shush, you need something around to sufficiently judge me and you love me for it, let’s not pretend otherwise.” Raven laughs. Zero sympathy for her older brother, it seems. “It seems obvious as can be to me you’re carrying a torch for your old sworn enemy, so yeah, I’ll be having plenty of fun watching from the sidelines.” 

 

“God, you’re never any help at all,” he grumbles. 

 

“Sure I am. I’ll be plenty of help when you’re dropping Davey off at my place for babysitting,” she insists. Charles doesn’t need to be with her to know she must have the most annoying smirk on her face. 

 

“Sure, whatever. Goodbye, Raven. Thanks for nothing,” he says, pulling up in front of his own building. 

 

“”Bye bye, darling. Say hi to Davey for me in the morning. Love you!” 

 

Even grumpy as he is, Charles still mumbles out a, “Love you too,” before hanging up and making his way up to his flat. All right. That’s enough acting like a schoolboy about Erik for now. Bedtime and in the morning, he’ll redirect all this energy to David. Can’t be that hard, can it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what a lil bb wow
> 
> lowkey gabby is gonna be amazing next chapter get lit


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: mutant related slur

 

“Daddy!” 

 

Charles would have probably been able to hear the squeal from the other side of the airport. Especially from the way it screeches in his mind, as well as his ears. But Charles can do nothing except grin brightly when he spots David, running towards him from the baggage claim area. Charles rushes to meet him halfway through and crouches down to pick him up. A little over a week shouldn’t feel so much like an eternity but fatherhood is the most important thing in Charles’ life, so it’s really not so much of a surprise. 

 

“Oh, Davey, I missed you! Look at you. You’re even bigger than when I dropped you off,” Charles teases, pressing several noisy kisses to his cheek. David promptly giggles in response. 

 

He’d left Gabrielle a ways off behind him when he’d gone off running, but she catches up to them now, smiling fondly at her son. David grins triumphantly at her. “Look, Mama, I found Daddy.” 

 

“I can see that, mon étoile! You’re good at finding people, aren’t you?” she agrees, leaning forward to give Charles an amicable kiss on the cheek. “Good to see you again, Charles.” 

 

“You, too, Gabbie. As always. Did you two have a good week in Tel Aviv?” Charles moves David so he’s holding him up on one arm only, so he can grab one of the suitcases and help carry everything back towards the car. 

 

Gabrielle nods, grinning knowingly at Charles. “We did. Though David kept talking to me about your friend Erik and how eager he was to get back to his playdates with those kids.” 

 

“Ah, yes. Well. Erik’s children’s are a lively bunch. David always has a lot of fun with them. Speaking of, Davey, Erik told me to tell you that you’re welcome into the twins’ sukkah any time you want.” Charles answers. He refuses to look sheepish, but he’s not exactly successful in that regard.

 

“Really?” David nods so enthusiastically, he ends up with locks of blond hair all astray around his head. “I’d like that a lot, Daddy. Can we do that, Mama? Can we go and hang out with Pietro and Wanda? Pleeease?” 

 

“Of course we can,” she promises, laughing. “I’d love to meet this Erik, anyway.”

 

“All in due time,” Charles mumbles. 

 

At the car, he lets Gabrielle strap David down onto his car seat, while he busies himself with storing the luggage away in the trunk. When he goes around to the front again, David is once again talking about the Lehnsherrs, and from the amused look Gabrielle gives him, she’s no doubt come up with her own wild theory about what’s going on. Which is just not fair, because come on, when David had left, there had honestly been nothing out of the ordinary going on. But now Gabrielle winks at him as she settles in the passenger seat and Charles is just doing his very best not to look too embarrassed as he steers David’s attention away from the subject and instead into telling him stories about his trip. David does so happily and that fills the silence with his story-telling for the rest of the car ride. 

 

Charles can’t avoid Gabrielle’s gaze or gossip for forever, though. When they arrive back home, David almost immediately falls asleep on the couch, beyond exhausted from the travel and jetlag. In the long run it would probably be better to wake him, but he looks so cute, Charles just can’t bring himself to do it. He just carries him off to bed instead and tucks him in with a blanket and one of his stuffed animals. When he exits into the living room once more, Gabrielle is sitting on the couch, nursing a mug of coffee and grinning mischievously at him. 

 

“Charles, you should have told me you have a boyfriend!” she says, gesturing him over to sit together. The worst part of still being on relatively good terms with his ex is that instead of politely ignoring one another’s existence as one would expect, Gabrielle is instead always much too eager to treat Charles like one of her friends. 

 

Charles sighs and sits down so he can begrudgingly share some of the details with her. “He’s really not my boyfriend, Gabbie. We…. did go on a date,” he admits. “But it was last night and wasn’t even planned until after David was already gone. If I was in a relationship serious enough to introduce David, I would most certainly have told you about it beforehand. Erik and I truly did only start spending all this time together recently because of our children.” 

 

“All right, all right, no need to get so serious about it.” Gabrielle promises, shaking her head. 

 

“It’s a serious matter, Gabbie,” he insists. 

 

She nods. “Of course it is. I know just as well as you do. You and I ran the background check for Dan together before introducing him to David, if you’ll remember. But I also know that you tend to get worked up about things. It might do you better to take it a little easier, that’s all I’m saying.” 

 

“Yes, well… let’s see if anything even comes of all of it. It’s only been one date. So instead of focusing on Erik, I think it’s much more sensible to focus on his children, who David’s very fond of. They’re in my classroom, as I’m sure he mentioned,” Charles elaborates. 

 

It’s clearly a segway away from talking about Erik, which still leaves Charles feeling a bit sheepish and not entirely sure about all the fluttering in his gut. Thankfully, Gabrielle takes the bait as she sips on her coffee. “Sure, sure. Pietro and Wanda, right? And a baby sister that David mentioned? He’s gotten quite good at his powers, he actually showed me what they look like with his telepathy. I was quite impressed.” 

 

“David is developing at an impressive rate,” he agrees. “I’m quite proud of how he’s been managing it all. This is a difficult gift to have.” 

 

“Did you expect any less? He’s a Haller. Haller men are strong bunch!” Gabrielle says, grinning. 

 

Charles laughs. “Half Haller! He’s Xavier as well and we Xavier men are…. Well, I suppose we’re clever, at least.” 

 

They giggle so much like school children amongst one another, it’s a miracle it doesn’t wake David from his nap. But Charles doesn’t care so much in that moment. Mostly, he’s just happy to have his coparent around for a while. 

  
  


 

                                                                                                                      ----

  
  


 

For all that David would love to remain  in vacation mode, he’s had enough consecutive absences already that adding yet another simply out of laziness isn’t a wise idea at all. So between the two of them, Charles and Gabrielle lure him out of bed with cuddles and pancakes. David’s school is on the way to Charles’ work anyway, so the pair of them go to drop him off together, but Gabrielle is on her own to pick him up, which she’s understandably pleased about. She’s not resentful that Charles gets to have David around so much more often. She understands it, of course, and it makes far more sense than having David constantly moving around from country to country. But it’s understandably a bit frustrating at times and when she has the chance to spend a bit more time with her baby boy, of course she’ll take it. 

 

She’s been to David’s primary school before, but this will be her first time with this new teacher and classroom. She’s yet to hear anything in particular about it, so she assumes it’s quite boring as far as classrooms and teachers go. When she’s dropped off in front of the school building a few minutes after three, she heads straight towards David’s classroom to pick him up. She expects to find him busy playing or chatting with his friends, but instead, he’s off in a corner, red faced and teary eyed. 

 

Gabrielle Haller may be a name most people associate with politics and law and she’s worked tirelessly to gain her reputation as a cutthroat bitch who can wrap anyone around her finger to get more favorable policy making. Gabrielle Haller is not someone known for her gentleness. But before she’s the woman her job has molded, she’s David’s mother and seeing him upset sets off a combination of concern and wrath. (And truly, G-d help whoever’s caused it, because Gabrielle will happily go on a rampage for her son.)

 

She crouches down to pick him up off the floor, settling him on her hip and wiping tears off his cheeks. “Baby boy, what’s wrong?” 

 

“Mama, I wanna go home,” David mumbles, hiccuping gently as he holds on more tightly to her shoulders. 

 

David’s teacher takes a few steps towards her, but Gabrielle ignores him. She pets down David’s hair gently, trying to encourage him to stop hiding his face against her shoulder. “We’ll go home soon. Just tell me what happened and Mama will fix it, I promise.” 

 

“It’s just… Ryan…” He hesitates briefly, but continues to mumble. “He called me a mutie and then I was angry and I didn’t mean to but I was inside his head for a minute and I didn’t do anything I swear but he got scared and I got scared and everyone was scared and I didn’t wanna cause trouble, Mama. Really.” 

 

“Oh, it’s okay. You’re no trouble at all. It was an accident and he shouldn’t have called you such a nasty name,” she insists, shaking her head. She continues to stroke his hair, bouncing him gently on her hip as she does. She may not be a mutant, but she grew up Jewish in France and now she’s a highly publicized Israeli official. She knows a thing or two about vicious name calling. 

 

She wants to keep comforting hi and assure him that it’s entirely that nasty boy’s fault, but David’s teacher not so subtly clears his throat behind her. “Ms. Haller, I presume?” 

 

“Yes, Mr. Clark. Is there something I can help you with?” she asks coldly. “I’m a bit busy at the moment, if it wasn’t immediately clear to you.”

 

“It’s about your son, in fact, and the… incident earlier today. You’re human, yourself, if I remember correctly? So I’m sure you understand that the administration and quite a few parents were rather unsettled by the happenings,” he begins, entirely uncaring that David is right there and of course listening to all of this. 

 

Gabrielle scowls. “So being human is supposed to mean I’m all right with bigotry? No, I don’t think so. My son had an accident, no different than children getting a bit rowdier on a playground than they know they’re capable of. No one got hurt, nothing happened, and there’s no need to punish him for it. If anyone should be in trouble here, it’s that other boy for thinking it’s all right to call my son a slur.” 

 

“No need to be so defensive, Ms. Haller,” Mr. Clark says, entirely too condescendingly for Gabrielle’s liking. “An accident is spilling some finger paint during arts and crafts, not violating another student’s mind. However, the severity of the incident isn’t entirely for us to decide. That’s why I came over to speak to you. The principal has requested David and his parents come by for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss how to move forward. And we all seem to think it best that David remain away from the classroom until after the meeting.” 

 

“How to move forward?” she repeats, scoffing. “And will little Ryan and his parents be having a similar meeting?” 

 

Clark bristles. “That seems quite unnecessary, seeing as Ryan wasn’t the source of problem during this.” 

 

“Not a problem? He called my son a slur!” Gabrielle insists, appalled that it’s not inherently apparent where the problem in that is. 

 

“Name calling is standard misbehavior fromm children. Telepathic invasions of privacy are not,” he insists. “Now, shall we cooperate like adults and schedule a meeting with administration or shall I call Mr. Xavier instead?” 

 

“The only one acting childish here is you, and not only will we not be attending any ridiculous meetings, but I promise you’ll be hearing from my legal team about this soon.” She could go on far longer against this imbecile, really, but David’s little hand holds onto her shirt more tightly and she wants to get him far away from this place far more than she wants to fight. 

 

So with one final glare, she steps around David’s teacher and exits the room swiftly. Ridiculous. Truly. This whole thing is beyond her comprehension. She feels like she’s gone back in time a few decades to be dealing with such blatant prejudice, though sadly she knows it’s all alive and well even know. One thing’s for sure and it’s that David’s never coming back to this place again. She hopes Charles will agree readily, but she’s more than ready to fight him on it if it comes to it. Her and Charles are good friends, but she’d pick David over Charles in a heartbeat. 

 

David speaks up as they’re leaving the voice, in a tiny voice. “I’m sorry, Mama… I didn’t mean to start any trouble.” 

 

“Oh, you have nothing to apologize for, mon  étoile. You’ve done nothing wrong,” Gabrielle promises, smiling at him and kissing his forehead. “How does some ice cream sound?” 

 

He nods slowly. “...yeah, okay. I’d like that.” 

 

“Perfect! Let’s go find some yummy ice cream, then,” she says, carrying him as they go. A little bit of childhood comforts first. This whole mess of a situation will be waiting for them afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP anyone who thought fucking with gabrielle haller was a good idea tbh


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first half is a bit silly, but mostly because the second half is all arguing lol

  
  


The first time Erik meets Gabrielle Haller, it’s when she shows up at his apartment with David in her arms, looking like she would be fully cable of murdering anyone across her path. Erik hadn’t had any plans to see Charles and David today, let alone Gabrielle. Actually, he’s not even sure how Gabrielle got his address, but from everything he’s heard of her, he knows she’s certainly a force to be reckoned with and he’s not about to try his luck. So he opens the door a little wider for them. 

 

“You must be David’s mom,” Erik says, as if it isn’t obvious from how David is perched on her hip. Not to mention, David seems to take after his mother. 

 

Gabrielle nods, setting David down on the floor and walking in with confidence like she knows the place. “Gabrielle. David’s told me plenty about you. It’s nice to finally meet you, Erik.” 

 

“Yeah, uh, you two. Sorry, remind me again how you got my address? And what you’re doing here?” Erik asks. If it comes off a bit rude, well, that’s fine, because first of all, what the hell, this is weird even by his standards, and second, David’s too busy having already ran off with the twins to be paying them any mind. 

 

“Right. I suppose this comes off a bit creepy. David remembered your address and helped me get here. Charles and I need to have an extended conversation with David nowhere in earshot and he suggested a playdate. I suppose I should have probably asked before showing up,” she admits, entirely unbothered by it. “But I’m in really no mood for any of that tonight. So let’s agree to overlook it, why don’t we?” 

 

Erik thinks he may have met his match. Anyone else walks through his door like this, he’d probably drag them out by their watches. But he’s pretty sure if he tries to do that with Gabrielle, she could have him murdered and his body disposed of where no one would ever find it. “An extended conversation with Charles? I’ll watch David, sure, but please don’t drag me into all your post-marital problems two seconds after meeting me.” 

 

“Oh, don’t fuss about it. Charles and I are way past divorce-style arguments. It’s about David, hence why I don’t want him anywhere near,” Gabrielle explains. 

 

Erik grimaces. “If I don’t want to get involved in your and Charles’ dirty laundry, then I  _ definitely  _ don’t want to be involved in any sort of custody arguments.”

 

“If I was getting into custody arguments with my ex-husband, I promise you, his new boyfriend’s house would be the last place in the world I’d drop off David.” She rolled her eyes. Gabrielle glanced around the room, lingering on a shelve towards the back of the living room with an assortment of mutant pride paraphernalia that Erik had collected over the years. “Mutant and proud, huh?” 

 

“Yes. Just like your son,” Erik answers defensively, crossing his arms over his chest. 

 

“Exactly like my son, she agreed. “And I’d never ask him to be anything else. Which is why I’m not letting him go back to that school he’s in. Not a chance. He’ll be going somewhere his while identity will be celebrated, not cast aside or demonized.”

 

“I take it something happened?” he asks. He knows it’s really not his place to be asking such personal matters, even if his and Charles’ relationship already has such a skewed timeline. But what can he say? Gossip has always been one of his vices. 

 

“You could say that. When we were in graduate school, Charles used to go on and on about starting a mutant school someday, but he always talked himself out of it, saying it was too close to segregation for his liking. I’d always tell him, it’s not even in the same range! Everyone needs safe spaces of just their own. My parents sent me to Jewish day school growing up. Were my parents off segregating me? Of course not! But it’s good to have at least one place to not have to worry about who I am. Charles just doesn’t get that, though,” Gabrielle grumbled.

 

Erik is no longer so bothered by Gabrielle showing up out of the blue. “Yes, exactly! I tell Charles the same thing all the time, but he simply doesn’t understand it. He’s too busy living in a perfect fantasy world to acknowledge the very real dangers around him.” 

 

She eyes him a bit disbelievingly and nods. “Charles found himself a sensible boyfriend. Who would have thought. I figured he’d ran off with another idealistic fool like himself.” 

 

Gabrielle is sort of reminding him of a human version of him. Probably doing the Jewish version of what he does for mutants. In another life, without his mutation, he probably would have been running in the same circles as her. Erik decides, “He’s got a type.” 

 

“Left and Jewish?” Gabrielle supplies. 

 

“Exactly like that,” he agrees. “And not afraid to call him out on when he’s being ridiculous. Who knew Charles was so predictable.”

 

“Give it a few years, you’ll be predicting his every move as well,” she promises. “So you’ll watch David for a bit?” 

 

Erik nods, though it’s a moot point by now. The kids are off playing in their rooms now and there’s not a soul in the world that’s going to pry those kids away from each other. “Sure, sure. I don’t suppose you have a plan past pulling David out of the school?” 

 

“The rest will come,” Gabrielle shrugs. 

 

Erik scoffs. He’s having a hard time imagining a time when Charles was married to this woman, but he supposes the feeling is probably mutual. He doesn’t exactly scream Xavier either. “Well… Best of luck, I suppose. Be nice with him, he does his best.” 

 

“Sure.” She snorts and heads towards the door once more. “And Erik? I’ll remind you that I have many friends in high places. If David has so much as a hair out of place when I come back, I’ll have you deported to Antarctica.” 

 

“...consider it understood, Haller.” 

  
  
  


                                                                                                                                  -----

 

Charles is a patient man. He really is. He should get some credit for that, because certainly, it takes a great deal of patience to deal with everything he does from Erik, David, his students, and even Gabrielle now that she’s visiting. He’s used to a lot from the people around him, but he really thought that at least with Gabrielle, they were past cryptic ‘we need to talk’ text messages. And coming from her, those messages almost certainly always meant ‘drop everything you’re doing and meet me immediately’ so begrudgingly, Charles had relented that his lesson planning would have to be done later, since right now, he needs to be back in the apartment as quickly as possible.  

 

When he arrives, Gabrielle is pacing back and forth on the living room, thinking out loud in mumbled Hebrew. It’s nothing too surprising. It was something she’d done often in their years together. Usually when there was a particularly pressing issue at work bringing her unneeded stress. However, Gabrielle was currently on a rare vacation from work, so she had no need to be pacing in his living room. And… Charles feels the apartment briefly and there’s a distinct lack of their son’s mind. 

 

He frowns. “Gaby. Where’s David?” 

 

“I dropped him off with Erik. I didn’t want him around while we talked,” she explains. 

 

“What? Gaby, you didn’t - you shouldn’t - Gaby, you can’t just go and show up at Erik’s door with David,” he sputters. He’s surprised she’d go so far, though he probably shouldn’t be. Few of the things Gabrielle does should surprise him any more. Especially not when you haven’t even properly been introduced to him!” 

 

“Oh, relax. Erik and I got along splendidly and he didn’t have a problem with watching Erik for a bit. You have nothing to worry about. I just didn’t want David around while we spoke. You know he has a bad habit of eavesdropping. Half the time without even meaning to,” Gabrielle insists. 

 

Charles lets out a sigh and goes to sit on the couch. He gestures for Gabrielle to sit on the other side of it. It doesn’t look like this will be one of their happier conversations. “Go on.” 

 

“David’s not going back to his old school,” she says, already firm and ready to argue, it seems. 

 

Charles scoffs. “Gaby… He can’t just leave in the middle of the semester. What on earth happened today?” 

 

“One of his classmates called him a mutie and when his telepathy flared up, his teacher had the audacity to try pinning the whole incident on him!” she explains. “He wanted us to come in and talk to the principal about ‘David’s behavior or whatever. I won’t have my son going to school in an environment like that! It’s no good for him.” 

 

Charles sighs, reaching up to rub at his temples. This whole thing will be messy, he can already tell. “I’m not pleased that happened, of course. But it’s just like I said, he can’t just leave in the middle of the semester.”

 

“He wouldn’t have to leave if he was in a better place for himself in the beginning of all this,” Gabrielle insists. Her arms are crossed over her chest, getting more frustrated by the second as she recalls all of this. Charles can even feel it pushing at the corners of his mind. 

 

“You think I didn’t already painstakingly search through just about every school in the area for him? It’s not particularly easy to find a place for telepaths, in case you hadn't wagered a guess!” he retorts. It’s about as fair of him to lash out on Gabrielle for asking this as it is for her to come to him so defensive already, but when it comes to matters of David, neither of them are particularly level headed. 

 

Gabrielle scoffs. “Then we’ll just have to do it again, because he’s not going back! He can’t Charles. He’s not going back somewhere that the faculty lets him be called slurs and discriminated against.” 

 

“Gaby. You’re not going to find anywhere that’ll make you happy, Do you really think I didn’t search up and down?” Charles sighs. “Being a telepath is hard enough around other mutants, let alone humans. It’s awful and yes, I feel awful that this happened in the first place and I’ll go and help clear everything up, but there won’t be anywhere much better you’ll find for him. No matter how hard you look.” 

 

“You know, the Charles Xavier I used to know - the one I started a family with - wouldn’t have been in a situation like this and decided to just stop trying because there isn’t a readily available solution. He would have gone out and fixed it himself.” She hesitates and adds, “Erik agreed with me that it’s unacceptable.” 

 

Charles jaw tightens ever so slightly and while he thought he’d be finishing up this conversation with a headache, it’s already starting to creep in. “I don’t know why you thought it was a good idea to go around talking about family problems with Erik, but in the future, please refrain from doing so. I really don’t know what you expect me to do. If there’s no schools for him to enroll in, I can’t magically make one appear and I can just leave him without attending school, either.”

 

“We’ll homeschool him, if we have to! Anything other than going back,” she insists. 

 

Charles laughs, rather unkindly. “We both know that by we you mean me and I simply haven’t got the time for it. I’m too busy at the preschool, and either way, it would leave David with nowhere to be during the school hours. So, sorry to burst your bubble, but that’s simply not an option.” 

 

“Maybe it’s time you do everything you’ve spent so long fantasizing about and start up that school of yours,” Gaby says, staring him down, apparently not put off in the slightest by Charles’ growing annoyance. 

 

“I’m not going to leave my job in the middle of the bloody semester on a whim!” he snaps. “To go do what? Start a school I dreamt up as an undergrad? I don’t even know how you figure I’ll manage that, Gaby.” 

 

She shakes her head. “You’re giving me the same excuse as always. It was never the right time back when we were together, right? Well consider this the right time. Consider the well being of your son in his education a sign that it’s the right time. And stop going on about how you’ll never be able to manage it. You have that great big mansion up in Westchester to host the whole thing, you have a bigger inheritance than you know what to do with, you’re already teaching children, and you have me to speed along all your paperwork and certifications. You’re the most resourceful person I know, Charles. I’m not going to sit around watch fear hold you back for the rest of your life.” 

 

“Gaby…” Charles sighs. His headache is steadily growing and he’s still certainly not happy about any of this, but he’s finding it hard to maintain any proper anger. “I don’t want to fight. I still think you’re being ridiculous if you think I can build a school from one day to the next, and you shouldn’t have gone and told Erik about all of this, but we’re both riled up. That’s no condition to be discussing anything.” 

 

“I know, Charles. I know. And it wasn’t entirely fair of me to ambus this on you,” she admits. “But I’m still not letting David go back there. I’m just not comfortable with it.” 

 

“He’ll stay home with you this week,” Charles relents. “And in that time, well both mull this over and come to a decision over the weekend. For now, we're going to go pick up David from Erik’s place. None of this while he’s here, understood?” 

 

“Of course, Charles. I wouldn't willingly expose him to any of this. You know that.” 

 

Charles nods and grabs his keys to go down to his car again, ignoring his growing headache. On the drive over, he finds himself trying to jog his memory on who's currently working as the Xavier manor’s groundskeepers and, at one of the red lights on the way, leaves a reminder on his phone to make some calls when he gets the chance. Though, of course, he'll be keeping that to himself for some time.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so anyways happy new year y'all


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter features my precious son David and probably far too many parentheses (its for art, i swear)
> 
> CW: food, the usual discussion of mutantphobia

 

David really liked his father’s new special friend. (He’s pretty sure he’s not supposed to know that they’re special friends, yet, but he always knows things he’s not supposed to.) For starters, his new friends live with his father’s new special friend, which makes things especially convenient. However, the mezuzah at the door and the books with Hebrew along their spine filling the shelves, David likes those. It reminds David of being in his grandparents’ home in Tel-Aviv, a homely aspect that none of his other friends’ parents have. That’s incredibly helpful in giving Erik an advantage over any other friend his father might make. 

 

Home and friends are David’s two favorite things. He especially likes them today, after getting in trouble and being yelled at, and then having his mother go and yell a bit too. Not at him, of course, but it shakes him up nonetheless. David doesn’t like conflict. He never has. He’ll go to great lengths to avoid it. Too far, according to both his parents. Even his father, which is surprising, because it’s where he gets it from. (They, of course, don’t say any of this to his face, but David hears it anyway.) He wishes it were still the holidays and he were still in Tel-Aviv in his Sabba’s home. Life is happier there. (Quieter, too, since his Hebrew isn’t quite quick enough to make sense of all the thoughts around him.) 

 

But he can’t hide away in his grandparents house forever, he supposes. No matter how much he’d want to. At least, playing with his friends is a good distraction. For a while. It’s hard to enjoy it when he knows his parents are at home arguing during it. (And it doesn’t matter much if he’s away during it, he knows hey’re arguing and he’ll almost certainly hear it all in bits and pieces of their recollection.) Erik comes to find him by the time he and the twins are working on their third lego castle. (The first was destroyed by Lorna crawling over curiously and the second by Pietro, who’d decided the crashing of the blocks is much funner than putting them up.)

 

“David, your parents are on your way to pick you up. Five more minutes, okay?” Erik warns, crouching down by where they’re playing with their building blocks. 

 

David sighs, nodding. “Are you sure Daddy’s not going to just come upstairs and we can make it  _ fifty  _ more minutes?” 

 

“Not today, I think, David,” he says, shaking his head. “Sorry, kiddo. Maybe next time.” 

 

He’d figured that would be the answer, but he’s disappointed anyway. Erik ruffles his hair and walks off again to leave them to their playing, but David hears him thinking about  _ what a mess this all is poor kid  _ as he walks back towards the kitchen. He wishes he hadn’t. Such is the case with most of the things he overhears, and yet, people seem to still be convinced that he does it on purpose or that he gets any sort of joy from it. David would gladly give the mutation up for…. For anything else in the world, really. (Or nothing, at all, if he wasn’t so sure his parents would both see it as a sign that he was ashamed of who he was, or something equally depressing. 

 

It’s partly why hanging out with the twins is so much fun. They’re so little, they’re not overly preoccupied over David’s powers (or perhaps, they just don’t entirely understand them yet) which is a welcome relief from the whole rest of the world. If he could just spend the rest of the day here with them, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But unfortunately, he can already feel his mother’s mind coming up the stairs towards Erik’s apartment, with his father close behind. David says his goodbyes and is already waiting by the door when they knock. If they really do have to leave quickly, David would rather just get it over with. His mother bent down to pick him up immediately, covering his face in kisses.  _ that’s my little trooper  _ she thinks, patting some of his hair down. Behind her, his father comes along, pausing to kiss David’s forehead before stepping towards Erik. 

 

“Thank you so much for watching him,” he says, though his mind is an anxious cycle of  _ he must think we’re so strange now god what was she thinking dragging him in and fuck he’ll think I’m so weird and I have to see him all school year and and and  _

 

David manages to tune him out once it gets a bit repetitive and annoying. (If only he could tune everyone out once they get repetitive and annoying.) 

 

Erik waves him off. “Least I could do, Charles.”  _ after everything, he’s our kind, even if you weren’t cute as a button all flustered like that _

 

“I’m all ready to leave, Mama,” David declares, curling up closer to his mother as she holds him. 

 

His mother’s mind mentally coos, about the same noise David makes when he sees a particularly cute puppy. She kisses his cheek and nods. “Of course. Thank you for watching him, Erik. Come on, Charles, let’s get him home.” 

 

David is in the car and strapped into his carseat in record time. Charles puts some music to play as soon as they’re all sitting, which is David’s first hint that he doesn’t want to breach the elephant in the room. David isn’t too surprised. His father has always been big on keeping the peace, even if that means leaving many things unsaid. It sort of works when it’s just the two of them; a pair of telepaths can afford not to be explicit. But this isn’t just some problem between the two of them. David doesn’t mean to turn the radio’s volume down with his powers, it just sort of happens (like many things in David’s life.) As long as it’s happened, David figures he may as well jump on the chance. 

 

“Daddy… What am I doing tomorrow?” And the day after and after that and after that, but David thinks his father might get a bit scared if David just asks what’s going to happen with the rest of his life. 

 

“Um. Well…” Charles looks at him through the rearview mirror, then glances at Gabrielle. David can already tell from the sudden flare of annoyance from his mother’s mind that the answer won’t be a very good one. “I’m going in to meet with your school tomorrow and we’ll see what happens from there. And while I’m at the meeting, you can have a day off with Mama. How does that sound?” 

 

“It sounds stupid,” David grumbles. 

 

“That’s not a nice word to use, David,” Charles scolds, with the same tone of voice he uses for his kindergarteners, which drives David absolutely insane. He’s not just some stupid baby. (Despite the fact that there’s hot, angry tears brimming at his eyes, not exactly the most mature thing to do.)  _ oh, I really thought we’d moved past tantrums that’s no good what a headache we’re in  _

 

David snaps, “It’s not a tantrum!” and starts crying properly, arms crossed tight over his chest and glaring down at his shoes because he doesn’t  _ want  _ to be crying and it’s  _ stupid  _ that he’s crying and nothing’s ever fair is it. (His father’s mind suddenly becomes as if encased in steel and David can no longer hear a thing, even casually, and somehow, that makes David cry even more.)

 

“Oh, mon cher, it’s okay, there’s no need to cry,” his mother soothes, reaching back and stroking his leg.  _ If only his father- _ David shuts his mind off as tightly as possible, even if the silence aches just as much as the flood of thoughts from day to day. “Talk to us, baby. Your father and I can’t do much if you don’t talk to us.” 

 

“Everyone always thinks I’m bad and it’s not fair! Even you think so sometimes, Daddy!” David whines, rubbing at this face. It succeeds little more than spreading tears and boogers all over the place. (Crying and in the midst of a tantrum, it’s certainly a far cry from David usually looking and acting all prim and proper like his father.) “I go to school and everyone always thinks I’m weird and bad and dangerous and I can’t ever do anything right and it’s not fair. It’s not my fault I do things differently! I can’t help it. If I could I would because I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it.” 

 

David resists kicking against the back of the front row seats, but only very narrowly. 

 

“David…” Charles is careful as he picks his words. “I believe you and I’m sure you don’t like school at all, but how come this is my first time hearing any of this?” 

 

“You never like starting any trouble. You’re always talking about how we need to get by and work together,” David mumbled. He’s only just started but somehow he’s already all tuckered out from crying. 

 

Charles sighs. “Oh, David. That’s not what I meant at all.” 

 

It’s mostly quiet the rest of the drive home, other than David’s sniffling and his mother’s attempts to comfort him. Every stoplight in their way immediately turns to green and every driver lets them pass, but if David has anything to do with it, he’s certainly not aware of it. At their apartment, his mother carries him upstairs and gets him settled on the couch while Charles makes a batch of cocoa. By the time all three of them are on the couch, nestled between fuzzy blankets and with their mugs of hot chocolate, David has calmed down at least slightly. 

 

“You know all I ever want to do is make sure you’re healthy and happy, love. But I can’t do that if I don’t know anything’s wrong,” Charles says, patting down David’s hair gently. 

 

“But you think it’s stupid when mutants make a big fuss just about being mutants. It’s what you think about Wanda and Pietro’s Dad all the time. I can hear you,” he reminds him. In front of him, the mug hovers clumsily while David tightens the blanket around himself. 

 

“Davey…” Charles sighs. “The most important thing a telepath ever learns is that sometimes people think things that they don’t really feel in their hearts. Especially first reactions. People tend to think some pretty silly things that they don’t actually agree with. That’s just how things are sometimes. And I would never, ever think anything you told me is stupid.” 

 

David sighs and leans his head against Mama’s shoulder. She rubs his shoulder gently and promises, “You and I are going to have the best day ever tomorrow, okay? Forget about this whole thing for a little while.” 

 

“Yes, you will,” Daddy agrees. “And while you two are off having fun, I’ll go talk to the school and clean up this whole mess. And if there’s anything - anything at all - you want me to know or want me to bring up, you can tell me, okay? Not just about this, about anything.” 

 

“All right… I think I’d rather just watch Gumball right now,” David decides. 

  
Both his parents nod and between the two of them, cartoons are set up on the television and somehow, snacks usually reserved for the weekend are scattered along the coffee table. David’s still upset and his head is still always either  _ tooloud  _ or  _ tooquiet  _ but at least here, with cartoons and cocoa and his parents, he can pretend everything is perfectly fine for a short while. And maybe, for a little while at least, his head can be just right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuccck i have a lot of feelings about david, from young lil 2nd grader david to troubled teen david to lost young man david and if u want to hear all about them, inquire gently in the comments and ill GLADLY elaborate
> 
> anyways obviously its been uhhh five months??? the short explanation is I overestimated being able to balance university, work, and rugby. the long explanation is a Mess but feel free to inquire at my writing blog (sebbym17) {on the plus side, Im now conversational in German and can read Biblical Hebrew and i u think im not flexing that with erik...... haha ur new here if u think that)
> 
> and actually if u follow my blog, Im active on there!! so you'll see more or less as my life goes to shambles and be like oooooh thats why he hasnt updated instead of being left in the dark :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: food, mentions of mutantphobia

Normally, Charles drinks his coffee with enough milk to make it more coffee in milk than milk in coffee and enough sugar to single handedly fund all of the city’s dentists with his cavities. After his meeting at the school, he shows up to his classroom with black coffee in the darkest roast and largest cup available at the coffee shop he’d stopped in. He’s already missed his first couple of periods, but one of the neighboring teachers has looked after his classroom in that time. Another small blessing, she continues looking after them for a few more minutes after Charles’ arrival, so he has some time to get settled. Moira peeks her head into his classroom, letting herself in as soon as Charles gives her the okay.

 

“That bad, huh?” she asks upon spotting the coffee Charles is practically chugging as he gets ready for class. 

 

Charles has never been so glad to have a friend and not a heartless robot as a superior here. “Moira, you have no idea. I’m going to go bald before David graduates high school.” 

 

“Usually parents make it to at least teenagehood before declaring themselves lost causes,” Moira says, trying to smile. Charles is clearly not in the mood for that. 

 

“You know how difficult it is for telepaths,” Charles laments. He hardly needs to elaborate. Moira deals with paranoid parents at least once a semester who are convinced Charles is going to brainwash their children. “David hasn’t been having an easy time with it, either. I suppose I was foolish thinking things would be much more different now than when I was still in school. And at least I was already in high school before I had to deal with any of this nonsense. This has all been a nightmare.” 

 

Moira sighs, nodding. “I can imagine. How’s David holding up?” 

 

“As well as one can expect,” he answers. Moira is his friend, but he’s not about to get into the details of it with her in the middle of the school day. Charles finishes off the last of his coffee and continues readying his classroom for the day. He has to get work done. He can’t dwell too long on any of this right now. He has work to do. 

 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Charles,” Moira promises, patting his shoulder as she stands to leave once more. “You always do.” 

 

A tight smile is the only thank you Charles can manage, but it’s enough and Moira heads back to the office. Soon enough, his class is back in the room and Charles picks up on the day’s lessons. It’s probably one of his most distracted days of teaching, but he gets it done and that’s what matters in the end. Mostly, it’s a blur. But the children are all happy and don’t seem to notice, so it’s fine. Really.

 

A few minutes after the dismissal bell has rang and a TA has taken all the children out to the pickup line, Charles can’t say he’s entirely surprised when the twins come back to the room, along with their father and Lorna. Erik knocks on the door as he opens it, looking a bit sheepish as he peers his head in. “Hey. Do you mind if we come in?” 

 

“No, no. Come in,” he says, gesturing them back inside. He’s exhausted from everything, but he can’t say he’s not glad to see Erik. Charles is not about to kiss Erik inside his classroom, but he’s almost grossed out with himself over how much he wants to. When did he turn into a teenage boy again? Thinking about kissing other boys while his life is currently in crisis is straight out of fourteen year old Charles’ brain. 

 

While the twins head straight to their toys and their sister toddles after them, Erik comes up by Charles’ desk and perches himself atop of him. “I wanted to check up on how you were doing. I know things are a bit difficult right now.” 

 

“That’s sweet of you,” Charles remarks. “They’re… I suppose as good as one can expect. David spent the day with his mother. He’s quite pleased about that. I’m afraid his love of learning might have been massacred.” 

 

“I can’t really blame him. I might feel the same had I felt similarly excluded in grade school,” he agrees, sighing. “”The twins were sick of coming to school by the end of last school year as well. You did wonders in turning that around for them.” 

 

It’s a bit bittersweet to know he can inspire that in other’s childrens, yet not his own. Charles forces a smile. “That’s lovely, Erik. I’m afraid that might not be anywhere close in David’s future, though.” 

 

“Yes…” Erik reached forward to squeeze Charles’ shoulder, aiming for encouragement of some sort. “I know it’s not exactly a replacement, but I help tutor a group at the Midtown Mutant Center. Maybe even an hour or two a week with kids like him will make him feel better about the whole thing? Everyone who works there is a mutant as well, so I’m quite sure he woudn’t get any trouble.”

 

Charles has always been dubious of strict separatism, which was probably a large factor holding him back from any undergrad dreams, but he has to admit that it might be what David needs. There’s no point in holding onto a belief so staunchly if it’ll only make his son’s life harder. “It’s in Midtown, you said?” he asks, pulling closer a Post-It pad to jot the name down. 

 

Erik nods. “I’m heading there now with the kids if you want to tag along. I don’t know what David’s schedule with Gabrielle looks like, but I’ll happily show you around for however long you have.” 

 

“I’d love to go with you, Erik. That’s a lovely offer, thank you. I just need a few more minutes to tidy up my classroom and we’ll head out,” Charles says, putting his pen down and standing. 

 

The room is, thankfully, not as much of a mess as it normally is. His kids had only been here for a half day, after all. It means he’s able to punch out that much sooner and be in his car to follow Erik to the mutant center that much sooner. Gabrielle has just sent him a recent update that David has been sitting in the same spot, fascinated by the penguin exhibit at the zoo, for about half an hour, and they’re still missing their dinner plans together, so Charles is rather confident that he has plenty of time before they’ll be home. Just in case, though, he sends her a text to warn her that he’ll be home a bit later than usual. 

 

There’s traffic, as is to be expected any weekday just after school lets out, but it’s not too terrible of a drive when Charles pulls up just behind the Lehnsherrs’ car into the miniscule parking lot behind the center. Charles, of course, knew that this place existed, seeing as it’s the biggest of several throughout the city, but he’s never actually been inside. Once upon a time he’d been the boy wanting to change the world who thought he’d work his whole life in one of these. But then he’d had a child and things had changed completely for him. Perhaps they shouldn’t have, but things were what they were. As he climbs out of the car, Wanda and Pietro are already running off ahead of their father. 

 

He must look mildly concerned, because Erik reassures him, “They come here all the time. They’re just anxious to get to their friends.” 

 

“Those two have more friends than they know what to do what I bet,” Charles remarks gently. Lorna toddles over towards his leg and reaches her arms up towards him. Charles obliges, of course, bending down to pick her up. He misses the days when David was a tiny little thing like this. “I don’t know how a grump like you wound up with these social butterflies for kids.” 

 

Erik laughs as he holds open the door for them. “I ask myself that every day, Charles.” 

 

Charles follows behind Erik as the man goes to get the twins settled in one of the playrooms with some friends. The place is bustling, with the after school crowd it seems, and Charles pays as much attention to passer-by’s as he can without being accused of staring. He’s not sure if he’s ever felt so many mutants in one place before, definitely not so many with visible mutations. And to see children running about, using their mutations as freely as some other children might show off favorite toys? It really does warm his heart. It makes him wish David’s birth hadn’t distanced him so greatly from all of this. 

 

When the twins are settled, Erik grabs him by the hand and leads him off to the tutoring rooms. He truly does need to spend more time around non-kindergarteners because his first thought is ‘ _ buddy system!’  _ instead of ‘ _ oh Erik Lehnsherr is holding my hand that’s lovely oh no my palms are sweaty oh dear God please don’t let him notice my palms are sweaty’.  _ Charles isn’t completely a lost cause, though. His brain hops to the second thought almost immediately. 

 

He doesn’t have too long to make a total fool of himself. As soon as they step into the designated work rooms - much, much quieter than the hallways and playrooms, and filled with tables and study supplies - Erik is forced to let go in order to catch the several children running at him full speed. 

 

“Mr. Erik! Mr. Erik! You’re back!” crows one particularly eager little girl as she hugs his leg. 

 

“I’m here every Wednesday, Kitty,” Erik reminds her, clearly amused as he pries children off him. “I don’t know why you’re always surprised.” 

 

As opposed to answering that, the girl, Kitty, turns to gape at Charles. “You brought a stranger, Mr. Erik.” 

 

“Oh, he isn’t a stranger. He’s just a friend of mine,” he tells her, locking eyes with Charles and grinning at him. “His name is Charles, he’s very nice and if you ask politely, I’m sure he’ll help you with your homework.” 

 

Immediately, Kitty’s moved to crowd him, as well as another boy who Charles still has no clue what to call. “Help me with my homework, Mr. Charles.  _ Please. _ ” 

 

“No, no, help me instead. Kitty’s a know-it-all, she doesn’t need any help!” the boy insists, grabbing Charles’ free hand and trying to tug him off towards a table. 

 

“Charles will help the both of you, Roberto, but not if you’re mean. And if he’s up for it, of course,” Erik says, glancing up at Charles, who nods automatically, because he has a teacher’s instincts before any sense of self preservation. 

 

“Fiiiine,” Roberto sighs, letting go of Charles’ hand and running off to grab his bag and move it next to Kitty’s things. Kitty runs off as well, and runs straight through a table on her way to her seat. 

 

“I’ll take Lorna,” Erik offers. He leans in to grab her and, in the process, presses a kiss to Charles’ cheek and whispers, “Good luck. I’ll be right over here, just yell if you need me.” 

 

And just like that, Charles is thrown into the wolves. He’s not angry about it. He likes children and he especially likes the opportunity to meet mutant children, which he doesn’t do nearly often enough. Mostly, he’s just amazed by Erik’s ability to get him to do just about anything. With Lorna out of his hands again, Charles goes to the table and pulls up a chair between both children. 

 

“Kitty and Roberto, was it? Very pleased to meet you, I’m Charles,” he says, shaking both their hands. He knows how children love to be treated all grown up. “Why don’t the two of you show me what you’re working on?” 

 

Charles spends the next few minutes gathering that Kitty is a fourth grader and needs help on her multiplication tables, while Roberto is a first grader (or ‘almost-second-grader’ as Roberto prefers to call it) who just needs someone to proofread a journaling assignment once he’s finished writing it. Perfectly simple work for Charles. Once he makes sure Roberto has a sharpened pencil and lined paper to work on, he turns to face Kitty and her math worksheet. 

 

“Let’s see how you’re doing so far. Do you have a test on this soon?” Charles asks, making smalltalk while he checks her previous answers. 

 

Kitty shrugs. “I do school at home, so Mom just kinda gives them to me whenever.” 

 

“You’re homeschooled, huh?” He nods, glancing up from the sheet for a moment to grab a pen and make some markings on the numbers she seems to be struggling with. 

 

“Uh huh! I used to get in trouble at school aaaall the time for going through chairs and desks and stuff, so Mom decided to just take me out. Said I was spending more time in the office than learning anyway, so I may as well do it in my pyjamas! Uh huh, and then whatever her or Dad can’t teach me, I learn here! With you! And Mr. Erik!” Kitty overshares in the rambly way only children can, and that Charles has learned to mostly tune out. 

 

But he certainly doesn’t tune out any of this. He nods, slowly. “Oh. I’m very sorry to hear that, Kitty. It sounds like you were just having some harmless fun with your mutations.” 

 

“What’re you sorry about, Mr. Charles? Didn’t you hear the part about going to school in my pyjamas? Pyjamas!” Kitty repeats. She looks at him like he’s an utter fool, so Charles obliges by laughing a bit.

 

“Of course. Silly me, Kitty. Now about these 12’s…” 

 

They’re well behaved children, and clever, too, so it’s only about forty five minutes later that Kitty and Roberto are finishing up on their homework. Charles corrects both of them and sends them both off to play with high praises. Erik comes to find him. His group has gone off to play already as well. 

 

Charles looks up at him, shaking his head fondly. “I know exactly what you’re doing, Erik.”

 

“Who? Me? I was tutoring, Charles, same as you. I’ve no idea what else you’re talking about.” Erik shrugs. Lorna toddles about between their feet, entirely unaware of the handsome devious horrifically attractive bastard of a father she has. Charles wants to kiss all over his stupid face. 

 

Instead, he settles for flicking his arm, a childish tactic taken entirely from the battlegrounds of kindergarten recess. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. I go off in your living room about some old pipe dreams of starting a mutant school and you bring me along to meet a bunch of adorable kids that aren’t getting by in traditional schooling? Because of their mutations? You’re not exactly subtle.” 

 

“It was entirely coincidence, Liebling,” Erik promises. Charles might almost believe him if he didn’t feel the warm smugness in his mind. “I think you might have begun to project your feelings onto others from the stress. I just knew you were in desperate need of being distracted for a while and you don’t seem the type to find a spa particularly mentally stimulating.” 

 

Charles shakes his head. Erik’s right, but he won’t admit it out loud. Instead, he veers off, to what is somehow both incredibly off topic, but all they’ve been talking about under everything for probably days now. “Even if I dropped everything tomorrow, went to Westchester, renovated all the facilities, filed all the paperwork… I still don’t have all those connections to the mutant community around here that I need. I wouldn’t have the slightest clue where to get students, let alone teachers.” 

 

“But I do,” Erik points out. “You have so many pieces already, Charles, that just need putting together. And everything that’s missing? The actual mutants? The foot in with the community? Charles, that’s everything I have. I’m right here. All you need to do is not be afraid to use me.” 

 

“...it wouldn’t be this semester. Not even this school year, probably.”

 

“I know.” 

 

“All right,” Charles relents. He’s tired of finding excuses for himself. “I’ll call my lawyer and a good renovations company tomorrow.” 

 

Erik grins. In college, Charles was rather intimidated by that grin. Now he’s just disgustingly endeared by how well it fits on Erik’s face. “I’d give you a celebratory kiss but the children are all right here.” 

 

Charles rolls his eyes and tugs Erik down by his jacket so he won’t have to lean up so far to give him an entirely G rated, Disney film approved peck. “I still owe you a dinner date, you know.” 

 

“Oh, never mind the formalities. I think Shabbat dinners with the kids are great replacements,” Erik says, taking Charles’ hand in his. 

 

Charles picks Lorna up off the ground and laughs. “Come on, you sap. Let’s go find your kids and find out what mine has gotten up to. I might just be orphaned for dinner again.” 

 

“They’ll be ecstatic.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "so what's your idea of a hot date?"  
> charles: teaching the bright young minds of tomorrow  
> erik: dinner with my children
> 
> smh fucking dorks


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how a school is started and yall funny if u think im gonna figure it out
> 
> CW: none I can think of, lmk if there's anything I missed!

  
  
  
  


**Chapter 13**

 

Charles winds up having dinner with the Lehnsherrs, just as he’d predicted, while David was out for dinner with his mother. It’s very quickly becoming a habit, though Charles can’t say he’s not pleased about it. He loves David with all his heart, truly, but it’s nice to have something else in his life that isn’t his son or work. There hasn’t been anyone in his life, even casually, since Gabrielle. For most of that time, David had simply been too young for Charles to feel comfortable dating, and even as he got a bit older, having kids immediately made any relationship a more serious prospect than most people were willing to commit to. Erik is… completely new, uncharted territory for him and while it certainly does scare him, Charles is most certainly excited about it as well. 

 

When he returns home, it’s with a warmed heart all swelled up with affection. Affection that only grows when David and Gabrielle arrive home, a short while after he does. David comes dashing into the house, a brand new stuffed lion in hand and clearly very excited about his day. He runs straight for his father, jumping up to be caught and give Charles a great big hug. Charles, of course, is all too happy to reciprocate, hugging him back and covering his face in sweet kisses.

 

“There’s my sweet boy! How was your day with Mama?” Charles asks, settling David on his hip to hear all about his day. 

 

“It was the best day ever, Daddy. Way better than yesterday,” he declares. “I saw soooo many animals at the zoo. When I grow up, I want to be a zookeeper.” 

 

“That’s lovely, David. Why don’t you go make your new lion feel at home in your room while I have a quick chat with your mother?” Charles suggests. He kisses his head once more before leaning down to place him on the ground. David knows what that means and gets the message easily enough. He nods and runs off to his bedroom, closing the door behind himself while his parents talked. 

 

Gabrielle pulls up a chair at Charles’ dining table and the two of them sit. “I saw your messages,” she says. “Thank you for going to the meeting today. I know… I know I was harsh on you yesterday, Charles. And I’m sorry about that. I just got so caught up in being a mother, I forgot to act like an adult.” 

 

“We’ve all been there,” Charles promises, shrugging. Usually, Gabrielle is a bit rushed to act while Charles is too hesitant. In the end, it works in David’s favor more often than not, which is their main concern. “Like I said over text, he’s definitely staying the semester, because it would be… just far too big a headache for all of us to move. He’ll be in a different classroom starting Monday and hopefully, it’ll be better and he can finish off the year there, no problem.” 

 

“And you’ll tell me if there are any problems after I leave? I know you, Charles. Always trying to fix the world all on your own…” she points out. 

 

She’s right, but Charles still bristles at the accusation. “Of course I will. I always do, I simply wasn’t even aware he felt there was something wrong in the first place. You know how good he is at hiding things, Gaby.”

 

“I do know. He gets it from the both of us,” she sighs. 

 

“No one to blame but ourselves, I suppose,” he says. “And another thing.... It’s little more than a verbal promise between me and Erik and there’s certainly no details, so don’t go off saying anything to anyone, but… I spoke with Erik and I think the pair of us are going to try to start a school. Like I used to say.” 

 

Gabrielle grins. “Really? Oh, Charles, I’m so happy for you.” 

 

“If it happens, I think it could be great for David,” Charles agrees.

 

“That, too, of course. But I’m happy for  _ you _ , Charles. You’ve been talking about this since we were nineteen. You deserve to live out your wild dreams, too,” she explains, patting Charles’ arm goodnaturedly. “So… With Erik, huh?” 

 

Charles flushes ever so slightly, but forces himself to nod as though it would be entirely expected and not a significant detail in the slightest. “Erik has far more connections in the mutant community than I do. A fairly important aspect in running a school for mutants.” 

 

“I’m sure it is. I’m not upset by it,” she promises. “I trust your judgement. And I’m happy for you. You deserve this, as well. Not to mention David apparently adores him. I’d love to meet him properly while I’m here.” 

 

Charles nods. “And you will. It’s all very new, but… I have a good feeling about it. I don’t fully understand it, but I do.” 

 

“I felt the same way about Dan.” Gabrielle smiles and stands up from the table once more. “Shall I fetch David?”

 

Charles nods and soon enough, they have David sat down in front of them as they explain to him that they can’t move him somewhere new, but that they know he’ll be such a brave boy, and he’ll be in a new classroom anyway, and that it’ll be lots and lots of fun. David doesn’t look absolutely ecstatic about it, as expected, but he’s calmer than yesterday, at least, and doesn’t protest with much more than a pout and a few sighs. Charles knows to accept small victories where he can find them.  

  
  
  


\-----

  
  


Come the following week, they’ve yet to have that dinner date. Erik isn’t particularly surprised by that, nor is he overly upset by it. It’ll come. It’s not like he and Charles don’t talk or spend any time together otherwise.With Sukkot coming up, Erik and his kids had spent an  _ interesting  _ Sunday at Charles’ apartment, helping to put together a sukkah in Charles’ balcony. Most families Erik knows, particularly those without his type of mutation, prefer to use a ready made kit that will be easy to assemble. Not David. No, as Erik learns that weekend, David likes everything to be done from scratch. He finds it funner that way. Erik provides  _ plenty  _ of help in the endeavor, and can’t even begin to imagine how it had gotten done in previous years with everyone’s sanity still intact. 

 

Aside from helping David live out his day dreams of being a builder, it had been an opportunity for Charles to properly meet Gabrielle. And just as they’d originally suspected, Charles does indeed have a type. There are hardly any words to describe how much joy Erik had gotten from tag teaming with Gabrielle to lovingly tease Charles for it. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Charles turned a lovely shade of pink throughout it. Other than that lovely, wonderful, perfect Sunday, though, the days have gone in a whirlwind without either of them seeing each other. They do, however, exchange plenty of texts. 

 

Charles uses a copious amount of emojis the more they text each other. Erik isn’t surprised by that. He would have honestly been more surprised if Charles had been some anti-emoji purist. Anyone with eyes and half a brain could figure that out on their own. Even if Erik finds the whole practice a tad bit ridiculous in anyone out of their teenage years, he’s rather endeared by it, coming from Charles. Who wouldn’t? Most things Charles does are endearing. But the many faces Erik sees while they text are definitely near the top of the list. 

 

_ {sms from Charles Xavier} David is back in school today. :( Gaby and I both sulked the entire car ride after dropping him off :/ _

 

_ {sms to Charles Xavier} I’m sure you put on an excellent brave face for your little warrior.  _ _  
_ _ {sms to Charles Xavier} Should I be worried that you’re texting in the middle of the school day? Have the children finally taken over? Are they holding you hostage? _

 

_ {sms from Charles Xavier} Haha >:( The children are in music class, which means I get an ever so brief break. I wanted to message and let you know that I’ve been in contact with my lawyers. Gotten some initial paperwork done :D I was planning on heading to the estate before Gaby leaves, just to see what state it’s all in. Perhaps you’d like to tag along? _

 

_ {sms to Charles Xavier} That sounds lovely. I’d love to go see the property someday.  _

 

_ {sms from Charles Xavier} Perfect! :D <3 :) We’ll work out the details later.  _

 

Erik sends him the availability of his babysitter, for the times Erik would be able to join him, which is how he finds himself traveling an hour upstate to see Charles’ estate for the first time. David is with his mother, while Erik’s children are at the Pryde’s house, being watched over by Kitty’s mother, Theresa. It’s just the pair of them on the car drive over, a privacy they rarely get. Predictably, they spend most of it arguing. There’s research being done to introduce suppressing medications to the market. Erik, of course, absolutely abhors the concept. Charles argues it might just be the best option for some, if they make it for themselves, and perhaps, some children are better off delaying their mutations a few years, until they’re old enough to truly handle it. 

 

By the time they pull up on Charles’ property, they’ve both talked circles around each other already. Erik is absolutely exasperated with him, and he loves it. He thinks, belatedly, that this is some strange sort of foreplay for the two of them. Erik wouldn’t give up these arguments for the life of him. He enjoys them far too much, and he has a feeling Charles felt much the same. No matter how either of them felt about their political arguments, it’s the last thing on Erik’s mind as they pull up to Charles’ childhood home. He’d known it was a huge, proper manor, with a vast property attached to it, but he couldn’t have been prepared to really see it. 

 

Erik must be gaping quite obviously, because Charles, through his embarrassment, explains, “It was a rather lonely childhood. Not worth all the space.” 

 

“You grew up here,” Erik says, glancing at Charles in disbelief. His own childhood had been his parents, sister, and himself in a two bedroom apartment in the middle of Berlin, but it had been a loving one. He knows the same can’t be said for Charles. “And you own it all now?” 

 

“All mine to do with as I please,” Charles confirms. 

 

“This is perfect, Charles. You’re sitting on a treasure,” he laughs, getting out of the car to properly admire the house. Anytime Erik thought of ways he might want to contribute in the long term to the mutant community, the daunting hurdle of location always seemed the hardest to overcome. Perhaps he and Charles really can get something started out here. 

 

Charles joins Erik, standing in the driveway and looking up at the building. “I suppose I am. Come on, I’ll show you the inside of it.” 

 

“Does David ever come up here? I bet he loves all this space to run around.” Erik takes in as much of the seemingly endless greenery as he can as they walk up to the door. He’s gotten to spend a bit more time with David this last week, since his parents had brought him to the mutant center a few times, and he’s only grown to like the kid even more. 

 

Charles chuckles regretfully. It takes some digging around before he pulls out the key to the entrance and lets them both in. Erik thinks it looks like something out of an Edwardian era TV show. Downton Abbey, perhaps. As he ushers Erik in, Charles explains, “There aren’t very many good memories attached to this place, so I’ve only brought David once or twice. It was always rather… dead when I was a child. Too quiet. It would be nice to replace those memories and get this a bit more lively, don’t you think? Get it full of children running around.”

 

“That sounds lovely, Charles,” Erik agrees, reaching to grab Charles’ hand in his. “Do I get the grand tour?” 

 

“Anything for you,” he promises. 

  
After a brief pause to kiss Erik soundly - no chance of any kids running about to interrupt here - Charles begins the great undertaking of showing Erik the whole manor. As they walk through, they both jot down floor plans and their most ambitious ideas of what different areas might be refurbished as; there’ll be plenty of time later to bring their ideas back down to the Earth. There’s plenty of ground to over and for the most part, they’re efficient. Other than a well deserved  _ break  _ in Charles’ childhood bedroom. It’s not quite dinner, but Erik thinks it’s something far more deserving of them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charles and Erik going on dates is fake news, instead they bicker around children, flex brain power, and one day look up and realize they've been boyfriends for 45 years


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like snippets is lowkey a copout on my end, but oh well! I'm living life for me, y'all! :') 
> 
> CW: food/drink mentions, a passing mention to incarceration  
> lmk if there's anything else I should add!

  
  


Gabrielle leaves just after Sukkot. Her flight leaves Sunday afternoon, so of course, they have a parting brunch in Charles’ apartment. For reasons Gabrielle can’t quite remember, but probably has to do with David’s insisting, Erik and his kids are there. She’s gotten to know him better over the holiday, but he’s still almost a stranger. David loves him, though, and with his telepathy, he’s always had good judgement. Between him and Charles, it’s enough testimony in Erik’s favor. This must have been what Charles felt when he’d first met Dan, she figures. 

 

She would have been happy to spend all day lazing around Charles’ living room, with omelets and coffee and children running about, but her ride to the airport is there soon enough. With a sigh, Gabrielle begins her rounds of goodbyes. She starts with David - and will, of course, end with him again before getting into the car. She picks him up off the floor and hugs him tightly. “My sweet boy! I’m going to miss you. I’ll see you again for Hannukah, baby.” 

 

David is sniffly as he nods. “Uh huh. And we’ll talk every single day, Mama. I promise!”

 

Gabrielle agrees, of course, and sets him back down while she says goodbye to Charles. She even bids farewell to Erik, pulling him into a brief hug, during which she leans in and whispers into his ear, “You be good to Charles, all right?” 

 

From the way he gets flustered, Gabrielle knows her and David have absolutely nothing to worry about. Charles will be just fine with this one. 

  
  


                                                                                                                                  ---

  
  


In the next few months, Charles and Erik are in Charles’ Westchester estate practically every weekend. At first, it had been an exhausting fair of leaving the children with babysitters and leaving early in the morning to take advantage of time, until Erik finally suggests they just bring the children along. Charles had been hesitant because of the memories he associates with this place, of course, but the children wind up loving it. What child wouldn’t? It’s seemingly endless space to run around in and get into trouble. The biggest downside is the tantrums they have to deal with from driving several cranky, tired children back into the city in the evening. 

 

It’s Erik, once more, who proposes a solution. Friday evening, at his apartment after Shabbat dinner, as has become habit for them, Erik is thinking of their excursion tomorrow and as soon as the thought pops in his head, he turns to Charles and asks, “Why don’t we just stay overnight?” 

 

“I’m sorry?” Charles blinks, confused, and frowns at Erik. 

 

“At the house tomorrow. We should just stay overnight. The kids will be happier. We’ll be happier. What reason do we really have to always come back? Neither of us have any obligations on Sunday,” Erik explains. 

 

“Oh.” Charles frowns momentarily, looking towards where the children are playing and then looking briefly around the living room. “We could, but… I don’t want to keep you away from your home, Erik.” 

 

Erik scoffs. “From this apartment? Charles, I’d have you and the kids. What else could I possibly want? That’s home, here or in Westchester.” 

 

:”Oh, Erik…” 

 

Erik finds himself with Charles half on his lap and kissing him before he can even process it. He’s glad the kids are sufficiently distracted with their playing or else Erik has no doubt they would very vocal in protesting all this yucky PDA between them. They stay the night the following day and every weekend after. Saturday nights quickly become Erik’s favorite. 

  
  


                                                                                                                                ----

 

It’s Erik, again, who suggests making the next move, and Charles really should have seen it coming, but he’s already proven he’s a bit slow when it comes to these things. The renovations on the house are nearly done, and in truth, almost everything that can be done, has been done. It’s nothing a matter of waiting for different paperwork, already made perfect by the Xavier lawyers, to finish going through, and to actually get students and staff to be up and running by the following school year and being the process of getting accredited. Charles has mixed feelings about all of it. On one hand, he’s absolutely terrified, as Charles has always been about taking risks and doing something new with his life. On the other hand, he can’t believe he’s actually making this happen and is undeniably excited. 

 

Everytime Charles sees the ever growing list of email contacts for potential students and staff, always followed by a  _ (?!?!)  _ after their names to accurately sum up what’s in Charles’ heart, he gets a rush of both thrill and trepidation. One thing Charles isn’t scared of is the knowledge that he’s going to desperately miss the weekends away to Westchester. As January comes to a close, the renovations are all just about done and Charles’ childhood home has been transformed into a potentially fully functioning school, full of dorm rooms and classrooms and even a cafeteria like the sort Charles had hated as a high schooler. Though pleased that their hard work finally has an end result, Charles can’t help but feel a bit bummed to know he’ll no longer spend every Saturday falling asleep next to Erik. Their two families have started to feel like one from living together two days out of the week. 

 

On what is meant to be their last Sunday morning there, Charles is especially resentful of his alarm clock. He shuts the damn thing off and rolls over, nosing at Erik’s shoulder sleepily. “Oh, I’m going to miss this…” 

 

“Hmm?” Erik grunts. He stretches out his long limbs before turning to face Charles properly. “Miss it?”

 

“This. Waking up with you, getting our children up together, having breakfast together, driving places together…” He frowns, huffing out a breath of disappointment. 

 

“Living together, you mean?” Erik doesn’t look bothered at all by any of this. It would hurt Charles’ feelings, if not for Erik’s tone of voice as he continues, as if he had never even considered another possibility. “We don’t have to stop. You do know that, don’t you?” 

 

“It seems silly to commute up here on the weekends if there’s no work to be done, Erik,” Charles says. 

 

Erik laughs, shaking his head. “That’s not what I mean, Liebling. Move in with me.” 

 

“Move in with… Erik.” Charles bolts up to sit straight as a rod. Erik isn’t fazed and merely wraps his arms around Charles’ waist so he can better settle his head on he man’s lap. “Erik, you’re not serious, are you?” 

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Erik asks. Charles must be projecting the laundry list of reasons because Erik reaches up and presses a finger to his lips, stopping him before he can even begin. “If all goes well, we’ll be living together out here by August, anyway. What difference does a few months make? I’m just as serious about you as you are about me, we both know that. My kids love you as much as I love David. We wouldn’t even need to get a new place. I have a guest room. That can be David’s room until we all move here.” 

 

Charles want to say yes immediately. Of course he does. But Charles has always been mildly terrified of change. It’s a weak excuse, especially after Erik has already soothed all his other nerves, but regardless, he says, “That guest room is your parents’ room when they stay. I can’t take that from them.” 

 

“Charles.” Erik laughs. Finally, he sits up straight as well so he can give his boyfriend - _ silly beautiful lovely man  _ Charles overhears - a kiss. “My parents live in Germany. They’re not here often enough to justify keeping that room off limits. Besides, since Hannukah, both my parents  _ and  _ Ruth like you better than they like me. They’ll be fine with it. I swear.” 

 

And what can Charles do except nod and envelop Erik in the biggest hug he can manage? It’s the completely logical step, just as Erik says, but Charles is still endeared by how easily Erik had suggested it. Miraculously, they keep it a secret from the children for a few days, until the details are worked out and him and David have a move in date specified. At this point, Charles shouldn’t be surprised by how easily he and David end up fitting into life with the Lehnsherrs, but it warms his heart, nonetheless. The pair of them fit in like they’ve always been there and soon enough, it’s easy to stop thinking of themselves as one big family, not just two families living together. 

 

Charles only cries a little bit the day Lorna starts calling him Daddy. 

  
  


                                                                                                                            ----

 

As it turns out, Charles does plenty of crying that semester and summer. He cries when a sign is put on the gate of the estate entrance, declaring it ‘Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters’. He cries when he overhears David on the phone with his mother one day, telling her how lucky he is to have two extra fathers in Dan and Erik. He cries when their payroll includes someone who isn’t him, Erik, or a friend of theirs whom they’ve guilted into joining their madness. He cries when they’ve officially enrolled their first student whose last name is neither Lehnsherr nor Haller. Plenty joyful tears in the first half of the year, other than the bittersweet ones he sheds when his traditional end of the year school party for his classroom is also accompanied by a goodbye party from his colleagues. It’s an eventful few months. The one time he doesn’t cry when everyone expects him to is only because he feels like throwing up, instead. 

 

It’s obscenely early on the morning of move-in day, just barely past five in the morning. In a few hours, seventeen youngsters will be dropped off by their parents - mostly loving, but in most cases simply eager to get away from the difficulties of mutant adolescents, as is too often the case - and in a handful of cases, by state social workers who’d been convinced that this is a better option than juvies or group homes. Seventeen people whose lives will basically been in Charles’ hands for the next few months. It shouldn’t leave him so nervous. It’s a small group - larger than he’d expected for a mutant-oriented private school in it’s first year, but small nevertheless - and they’ve clearly already been won over by Charles. But it’s nerve wracking nonetheless. 

 

The hard part was already done. Charles has had to give countless presentations, pitches, information sessions in the lead up to today, but somehow, those had never left him as nervous as he is right now. Perhaps because it had never felt quite so real and irreversible as it does now. Erik has already given up on Charles going back to sleep and instead, relinquishing himself to the duty of keeping an eternally full pot of tea at the ready for Charles. He’s tempted to make it chamomile or something equally calming, but Charles refuses to touch it if it isn’t the strongest brew they have. Finally, when the pacing grows to be too much for Erik, he gets up and grabs Charles’ hands, forcing him to stop and look at him. 

 

“Hey. Breathe for a second, will you? You’re stressing me out.” Erik laughs softly and pulls Charles in for a kiss. 

 

Charles isn’t amused. “And you’re not stressed already? How can you not be?”

 

“Because, I have nothing but the utmost faith in you,” he promises. “The day will be perfect. Now, can we please, please get a bit more sleep before parents get here? You don’t want to look like a zombie for them, do you?” 

 

“You really think so? That the day will be perfect?” Charles sighs, putting aside his mug of tea. His caffeine consumption was probably already more than a normal human should have in a day, but luckily, he’d done in a stint in academia to raise his tolerance. 

 

Erik looks terribly fond as he kisses him again. “With you at the helm? I’ve been sure of it since day one.” 

 

                                                                                                                     ---

 

It’s December much sooner than Erik can even process. He can’t even fathom that it’s been a whole semester of the school being up and running, much less that it’s been more than a year since he and Charles first met. Hannukah has the good fortune of falling in the winter break, making it much easier to arrange for Gaby to come visit them at the manor. Charles and David had left earlier in the morning to pick Gaby up in the airport and though Charles had texted him when they were nearby, it had been wholly unnecessary. As the car comes up the driveway, David is projecting his happiness at full volume. 

 

Erik is well prepared for when they come inside. He moves Lorna onto one side, preparing himself to catch David when he no doubt runs at him full speed as soon as he comes through the door. Sure enough, when Charles and Gaby come in, carrying Gaby’s bags between them, David darts between their legs and runs straight to Erik, barely giving him a warning before he jumps to his arms. 

 

“Papa! Look! Mama’s here!” David says, grinning as bright as any little boy can manage. 

 

“I can see that, boychik,” Erik chuckles, holding him up. He doesn’t have too for long, because soon, David has hopped down again to find the twins and inform them, seemingly as excited about letting everyone know as he is to have his mother here. 

 

Lorna holds onto her father tighter, little nose scrunching up in confusion. “David silly, Papa.” 

 

“No, David’s just happy,” Erik corrects, kissing the top of her head. She doesn’t look convinced, but it’s enough to keep her from arguing as he puts her down on the floor so he can help take Gaby’s things to her room. 

 

Gaby greets him as happily as she always greets Charles, pulling him in for a hug. “It’s so good to see you again! You two have really transformed this place, huh?” 

 

Charles nods and the whole walk to Gaby’s room and back, he gives her all the details and facts. How well the kids did in their standardized testing, the couple of mid-semester enrollments they’d gotten, the even more kids joining them in the following semester, and countless anecdotes about the students and teachers and daily shenanigans of life at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Looking at him, you’d think he’d been doing this his whole life, not barely half a year and after endless encouraging and comforting from everyone around him. 

 

At a boarding school in upstate New York with an old college rival is the last place Erik expected to spend the first night of Hannukah, but there’s nowhere else he wants to be for every other first night of Hannukah in his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always told myself I wouldn't be the sort of author who ended or began anything on Hannukah but here we are 
> 
> there's an epilogue up ahead, but that will probably be a mini chapter so.... wow! we got here, y'all!
> 
> I'll save the sappy mush for the epilogue, but know that I love y'all!


	15. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said, a minichapter for the epilogue. Some future family fluff wrapped up in teenage angst, from David's perspective because y'all know I love my boy and wanted to go out with him <3
> 
> CW: food

Living in the same place you go to school has many very serious disadvantages, all of which David is only all too happy to share with anyone who will listen for more than two seconds. One, never ever is David able to use the excuse that his homework isn’t finished because his textbook was forgotten in a classroom. A bit useless to try when his classrooms are just a floor down. Two, when a sixteenth birthday rolls around - as David’s had a few months prior - it’s entirely too easy for your father to dismiss the request of a car with ‘you live and go to school in the same place, you don’t need a car’. Three, sometimes, on random Sundays, going down to breakfast will be interrupted by your Mutation Control Counselor tossing their three year old at you and exclaiming, “Oh, David, it’s so good you showed up, Kurt needs a babysitter for a few hours!”.

 

Granted, David’s counselor is also his aunt, but that’s irrelevant as far as he’s concerned. 

 

David grimaces, looking down at Kurt, who is currently hanging off David’s neck and slobbering all over his own tail. “Aunt Raven! I can’t watch Kurt. Ruth and I are going to the movies.”

 

“On a Sunday morning?” His father glances at him over a newspaper, that David is pretty sure he only reads for the opportunity to look menacingly over it at students when they come down for breakfast. Otherwise, he would come off as way too soft of a headmaster. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can watch your cousin for a few hours.” 

 

“Yes, on a Sunday morning! I can’t do it, Dad, I already said. How about… Wanda! Wanda can do it!” David suggests. He points accusingly at her, which earns him a glare of contempt only an almost thirteen year old can mange. 

 

“Can’t.” Wanda shrugs. “Pietro and I both have Hebrew school.”

 

“I can watch Kurt! I can watch Kurt!” Lorna hops up eagerly, abandoning her cereal in favor of dashing over towards her baby cousin and cooing at him. Kurt meets her halfway there by teleporting into her arms, which only delights Lorna further. 

 

“That’s a sweet offer, Lorna. Maybe you can help David with the babysitting?” Raven suggests. Because no matter how much she loves her youngest niece, a teleporting toddler is a bit much for a nine year old to handle alone. “I’m sure David will appreciate your help, because David is most definitely going to be looking after Kurt today.” 

 

Lorna cheers and carries Kurt back to the table, sitting with him on her lap. “We’re going to have sooo much fun today,” she promises. She uses her powers to bring her spoonfuls of cereal to her mouth, leaving her hands free to tickle Kurt’s sides. 

 

“Fun with Lorna!” Kurt agrees between giggles. 

 

“And David,” Wanda adds, smirking at her older brother. 

 

This family gains a sadistic sense of pleasure from torturing him. David is sure of it. They don’t even try to hide it! “Ugh. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve this.” 

 

“Life is so difficult for you, David. I’m sure,” Erik remarks, leaning back with his morning coffee. “Blame yourself. You basically kickstarted this whole place.” 

 

“I know.” David groans. His fathers only remind him every opportunity possible. “I was a stupid eight year old. We shouldn’t be tortured for our eight year old selves nearly a decade later!” 

 

“It’s those Lehnsherr dramatics in you. I don’t know how you managed to inherit Lehnsherr genes, but you did, somehow,” Charles says, grinning at his husband. 

 

Raven watches all of them, before simply shaking her head and standing to clean up her breakfast dishes. Her brother and his family have always been a rambunctious bunch, full of love even when they’re all sulking. She’s learned a long time ago not to question it too much. If she does, she might never make it to her Sunday brunch with Irene. “I’ll be back by one. Plenty of time for your date with Ruth, David.” 

 

“It’s not a date!” David protests. His ears turn bright red and he slinks further down in this chair, wishing he could disappear. Kurt is having absolutely none of that and teleports to his lap, giggling as he tugs on David’s blushing ears. David bats his baby cousin’s hands away. “Bobby and Judah and Kitty are coming.” 

“Sure thing, kiddo.” Raven kisses Kurt’s chubby little cheeks and ruffles up David’s hair on her way out of the kitchen.

 

“C’mon, Kurt, let’s go wake Kitty so we have a little more backup today,” David sighs, standing up with Kurt in his arms. 

 

For everything, there’s also a couple of good things that come from living and schooling in the same place. One, David’s teenage laziness is horrifically enabled by being able to wake up five minutes before class. Two, whenever needs to walk more than a few minutes to get to his friends and gets the unparalleled joy of waking them obnoxiously in the mornings. Three, his family will probably be the death of him from how deeply they enjoy exacerbating his teenage angst, but there isn’t anyone else David would rather be brought to death by. 

 

Of all the crazy things in David’s life, this place and his great, big, jigsaw puzzle of a family is most certainly the best worst one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all... Nearly a year later, but it's finished <3 Not to get sappy, but that's most certainly what this final end notes will be. 30k is something most people on here can bang out in almost no time at all, definitely in less than a year, but as someone who's always been a little slow because of various mental health issues and learning disabilities, there's few things that bring me as much pride and joy in myself as finishing a multi-chapter fic, because 30k is a mammoth task for me. 
> 
> I started this a little before the beginning of my freshman year of college and now, am finishing it a little after the end of my freshman year of college, which seems oddly fitting. It was a crazy year, between Hurricane Maria at home and some very, very low points of mental health, but I powered through to the end just like with this and I'm so glad I did. This was a joy to write, even when it took a bit longer than it should have. 
> 
> Thanks a million to everyone who's read it, and especially to everyone who has left kudos and bookmarks and especially comments all this while! They drove me forward more than any of y'all can imagine. I hope to see some of y'all again as I hopefully finish a couple of things I've had up my sleeve for a while, as well as get back to work on my other WIP. 
> 
> Much, much, much love!!!
> 
> \- Sebastian <3

**Author's Note:**

> for questions, prompts, or chatting I can be found on tumblr at [sebbym17](http://sebbym17.tumblr.com/)


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